The Other Side of the Coin
by Rayuga Black
Summary: Fame is a fickle mistress and one who gets addicted to it rues the day they lost control. When Edward Potter became the Boy Who Lived, Lily and James became so fame hungry that they forgot about their son Hadrian. Watch as Hadrian rises and proves to be something that Edward never could hope to be: a Warrior.
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Story Notes: Hey guys, I recently had a lot of free time and after hearing a lot of reviews on how my other fic would have been much better if I had avoided some mistakes. So I've decided to take it down and rewrite it from the start. Till then, I hope you enjoy this new twins fic. As always, you reviews make me feel and write better. So make sure you leave a lot of them!

Rayuga.

Chapter 1

Life was full of changes.

Life had changed very much for Hadrian Potter, the Other Potter twin.

It all changed when the Dark Lord lost his body on that fateful night of Halloween. Edward Potter, a one year old child had supposedly reflected back the Dark Lord's Killing curse and destroyed his body in the process thus giving him a lightning bolt scar on his forehead and a bigger than life title 'Boy Who Lived.'

After making sure that their savior was safe and healthy, Albus Dumbledore had informed the press about a prophecy that had prophesized the end of the Dark Lord and how Edward Potter was the child of the prophecy. The full lines of the prophecy was not published due to security reason but Dumbledore gave an highly edited version which he claimed that Edward Potter was the next coming of Merlin and how he was destined to get rid of the Dark in the world and that he would bring a golden age of Light to the Wizarding World.

After that, there was no stopping the fame that the Potter family gained worldwide. A child born to destroy all Dark would have sounded far-fetched and no doubt many would have been skeptical. But this was backed up Albus Dumbledore, the Leader of Light himself. If he said Edward Potter was the next Merlin, then he was the next Merlin. There will be no questions asked.

As the years rolled by, the Potter family changed. Gone was the easy going, irresponsible James Potter. He was now Lord James Potter, the father of their savior. The political climate had dramatically changed with Dumbledore's declaration. Many neutral and dark families had migrated towards his side and he now led a huge coalition in the Wizengamot, along with his best friend Lord Sirius Black and Lord Franklin Longbottom. No one wanted to be on his bad side and James's ambitions grew. He quite enjoyed the fear and respect people had for him and became a full time Lord.

Lily Potter had undergone a few changes as well. The sudden thrust to fame had changed the muggleborn witch drastically. No longer was she the compassionate, kind woman who drew people to her with her thirst for knowledge and charisma. She was now Lady Lily Potter, wife of Lord James Potter and she began acting her station. Her son was destined to get rid of the Darkness in their world and that could only mean that dark purebloods would be wiped out and Light would rule right? She began acting like the very same people who she had despised in school. She became snobby and selfish and she began snubbing her muggleborn friends as well. They were shocked at her changes but Lily had rudely told her to mind their station and think before addressing the Lady of a Most Ancient and Noble House.

The press began hounding them everywhere and the Potter couple began developing an addiction to the limelight. Even though it was their son that was prophesized to be their savior, they as the parents got a separate share of fame for themselves. James Potter became an icon as an ideal father. Strong, brave, handsome, rich (some witches giggled) and powerful while Lady Potter became the rallying icon for thousands of witches with her good looks and intelligence.

Together with their son Edward, they were without the doubt, the most powerful couple in the world.

At the beginning, Lily Potter would take both the twins to the press conferences and pose awkwardly with two of them in each arm as James was supposed to put his arm around her shoulder. That was how an 'ideal' husband was supposed to hold his wife but the presence of the twin brother of their savior complicated things. The photographer suggested she hold only Edward as the 'Boy Who Lived' was more important than his twin and deserved the full attention of the public. It would also made things easier for Lily.

After she discovered how easy it was to hold only one child for a photo and how good the picture turned out in the magazine, Lily stopped bringing Hadrian to these photo shoots. When someone questioned about this, Lily claimed that she loved both her children equally but the press was after Edward's photos and it would be rude to include her other son in the photos as well not when the public wanted to see 'the perfect couple.'

After that, Hadrian was always referred to as the other twin.

While his parents paraded their savior around, little Hadrian Potter was left in the care of their elves all alone in Potter Manor. When his grandfather, Charlus Potter found out about this, he was disgusted at the level his only son and daughter in law had fallen and demanded that Hadrian be left at Potter Castle instead of being all alone.

James and Lily agreed immediately as this gave them more time to concentrate on their favorite son, Edward.

As Edward grew up, he realized that there was nothing he couldn't have. All he had to do was pout and force some few tears and his mummy or daddy would move heaven and earth to fulfill it. His parents kept no secrets from him and as soon as he was six, they explained the heroic fate he had performed as a baby, killing the Dark Lord and protecting his brother from the falling debris.

They also explained his destiny as the savior of their world and said he must be ready for it. Edward vowed to destroy all darkness and make his parents proud. But only if he got two servings of dessert every day.

Edward knew his destiny and the limelight that came with it. During the countless photographs he had posed for, he had mimicked his father's lopsided smile much to his delight and soon a natural in posing. His photos sold for hundreds of galleons and he became the wizarding world's first child model. His face was plastered on a variety of products from toy brooms to his very own 'Edward Potter Adventure Series.'

The Potter family raked the profits from these exploits and Edward Potter was set to become the first millionaire before he was ten. Lily and James kept each and every galleon that Edward had made in a separate vault and had forbidden entrance to anyone except themselves and Edward.

While the famous Potter twin posed for photos or interviews, the forgotten twin Hadrian Potter was no less busy. As soon as he was able to walk and talk, his grandparents practically made him live at Potter Castle, as James and Lily were least bothered about him and they filled the void that was supposed to be filled by his parents. No child had to grow up without love and support and Dorea Black swore no grandchild of hers would feel abandoned and unloved. While she did somewhat love her grandson Edward, she was fonder of Hadrian as Edward's boastings tended to grate her nerves and she was practically a mother to Hadrian.

Dorea explained to Hadrian why his parents preferred his twin over him and how, instead of hating them and his brother, he could make them pay by becoming better than his brother ever could be. That would be a real blow to his fame hungry parents and would hurt them more than words or curses ever could.

Hadrian Potter threw himself to the training with such dedication it made Charlus and Dorea partly proud but mostly scared. Potter Castle, being the ancestral seat of power of the Potter Family had one of the biggest libraries in the entire world, even bigger than the one at Hogwarts and Hadrian haunted the place daily.

He had an insatiable thirst for knowledge and devoured book after book dealing with Charms, Transfiguration, History, Runes and Potions. His prodigious intelligence and almost photographic memory made sure he was reading through the library at an astonishing pace. While the world saw the Potters as a Light family, they were actually a Grey family and no one outside the family knew of this. While Hadrian had absolute freedom to study anything he wanted and was not restricted to study topics classified as 'Dark' by the Ministry, his grandparents restricted his studies of Battle Magic, Dark Magic and higher Magic such as Illusionary Arts and Elemental Magic until he was older and more mature. Charlus had made sure Hadrian understood that there was no 'Light' or 'Dark' magic but only intent. He did not mention the black magic that was still being practiced in secret.

While it was true James was publically Lord Potter, the Potter family headship was still controlled by Charlus and he had named James as his successor only in the Wizengamot. So when Hadrian turned five and displayed tremendous control over his magic(he turned his grandmother's graying hair pink and then changed the colors according to the rainbow), Charlus took Hadrian to the Potter Family Vault and showed him row and rows of wands mounted on the walls below which a small golden plaque which named the owner of the wand and what year he lived along with the wand's details, and asked him to choose one which he felt most magic from.

After moving through the wands of Potters from the 14th century, Hadrian finally stopped in front of a smooth black wand with runes all over the handle and his grandfather had paled when he saw his grandson choosing the wand that had belonged to Jacen Potter. Made from Elder and Griffin heartstring, the pitch black wand had served its master very well. Jacen Potter was known throughout history as the one who had single-handedly defeated the Horde during a goblin rebellion in which the goblins had almost succeeded. A Horde was an unit of the goblin army back then which wielded magical resistant, goblin forged weapons. What made them especially terrifying was that they were made up by the most blood thirsty and vicious goblins and their weapons were highly magic resistant and could be blocked only by the goblin made shields only so whatever shields or physical obstacles conjured by the wizards, the weapons cut through them like paper.

Somehow, Jacen Potter seemed to have missed this memo and he, along with his faithful wand stood as the last obstacle in front of the Ministry of Magic entrance facing the Horde alone. No one had seen the battle first hand and Jacen didn't see the need to share details(to the public) but it was speculated that Jacen and his wand's magic was so strong that they automatically nullified the magic resistant properties of the weapons and a full body shield protected his body as he mercilessly slaughtered the Horde and thus enabling the Ministry to take back control and wave a flag of truce.

Years later, Charlus had found Jacen's journal in the family vault and he had found how his prodigious ancestor had linked his wand to his own core which enabled him to draw much purer magic than others. This led to his spells being much more powerful and potent. He also found that the runes carved on his wand would draw ambient magic in the air or the Ley lines in the Earth automatically. This ambient magic would fill his core gradually, thus making him feel magically drained impossible.

The only downside Jacen described was that he had to perform a ritual to strengthen his core so it wouldn't shatter if excess magic was drawn from the air when he visited places that had naturally high magical density like Hogwarts. He also theorized that the wand would work perfectly only for him and the chances of it working for his descendant was extremely less.

Charlus had decided to take a gamble and asked Hadrian to take the wand. Nothing dramatic had happened and at Hadrian's muttered _Lumos_ , the wand glowed bright but nothing exceptional. Charlus then realized that the wand was not linked to Hadrian's core and the magic absorbing properties was disabled as he was not the wand's true master. When they were back home and Hadrian returned to his studies, Charlus had poured over Jacen's journal and finally found the entry on the rituals his ancestor had performed to link the wand and strengthen his core. He also found the runes needed to be carved on the wand for it to absorb magic.

He decided to give Hadrian this knowledge when he had gotten his own wand later. It would be tough to beat an opponent who got stronger and stronger as the fight went on wouldn't it?

Some knowledge like Politics, Traditions and Manners, Family History and Magic was not found in books and these subjects were taught by Charlus and Dorea. They also taught him a bit about what they had learned in their profession. Charlus, being a Hit-Wizard in the Grindlewald war, taught him attack and defense tactics and diplomacy while Dorea, also a Healer in the war taught him basic healing and promised to teach him more if he was interested.

Between classes and hearing stories, Hadrian Potter was kept busy and his thoughts were academically inclined. Then why did he feel the sudden loneliness at times? Whenever he was home, he was barely acknowledged as his parents were always busy fawning over his twin and Edward never let him forget it, taunting him and claiming no one wanted Hadrian around. He also poured fat to the fire saying he had lots of friends and Hadrian had none. As intelligent as he was, Hadrian was still a child and tears streamed from his eyes and he ran to the floo. He could still hear his twin's cruel laughter as he drove his point home. He was not wanted.

Grandmother Dorea quickly put an end to this line of thought and quickly hugged him and his grandfather ruffled his hair affectionately which made Hadrian feel maybe he wasn't abandoned. Who needed his parents or twin when he had such loving grandparents? He vowed to become a greater wizard than Edward could ever hope to be, just to make his grandparents proud. Hate for his brother filled his heart.

After his emotional outbreak, it was decided to add two more subjects to his already vast timetable. Occlumency, to help control his emotions and shield his mind from invasions and the other was friends his age. Hadrian was dreadfully lonely with only his grandparents for company. Asides from a few formal occasions that they had dragged him to, he didn't go out much and Dorea was determined to help him make friends his age.

When Hadrian looked uneasy at the thought of meeting new people, Charlus took him aside and explained how it would be good to have friends and how it would make Edward's comment about him having no friends false. After hearing this, Hadrian made his mind.

Charlus Potter was very close friends with Lord Arcturus Black and Lord Abraxus Malfoy. They had been major political players back in their days and now in retirement, they spent all their time with their grandchildren. Charlus felt friendship with the heirs of these houses would greatly benefit House Potter later on and also these families were not big fans of the 'Boy Who Lived.' It would break Hadrian's heart if someone befriended him only to get close to his famous twin.

It had been a very memorable day for Hadrian and one of his few good memory that didn't involve studying new magic. They had flooed over to Black Manor in London dressed in stiff formal robes and landed in the house of Black. A boy his age was waiting to greet them. He bowed stiffly to his grandfather and eyed Hadrian. They both stuck out their hands at the same time and couldn't help but smile at it. They were ushered to the playroom as the adults discussed 'business.'

"So what's your name?" the strange black haired boy asked Hadrian as he lounged on a tiny chair. He was a little too big for the chair but Hadrian didn't dare point it out, afraid of offending a potential new friend.

"Hadrian Potter." Hadrian said in a careful voice, looking for the tell-tale signs of someone's eye lighting up as they realized he was related to the popular Edward Potter but it never came. The boy rolled his eyes and asked "Any chance related to that ponce Edward Potter?"

"He is my twin brother."

"Sucks to be you I guess. Hey, can you two manage to be in the same room at once? I figured that's not possible because his head is too big to fit in one room." The boy said, cracking up at his lame joke and Hadrian was in unknown waters. Whenever he introduced himself as the twin brother to the famous Potter twin, he either had to politely refuse to get them an autograph or explain that he indeed existed and that Edward Potter indeed had a twin brother but this boy had completely thrown him off the hoops.

"I did not think they have invented a device to measure his large head yet. It must be larger than a room. Two rooms at least." Hadrian offered tentatively and the boy stared at him for a second before he burst out laughing. Hadrian felt a strange emotion coursing through him and seconds later, he too started laughing.

They laughed for a while and when the boy calmed down he offered his hand and said "I'm Rigel Black. Friends?"

"Friends!"

There were nigh inseparable after that and whatever concerns Sirius had of his son making a new friend vanished as he found out that it was James's son Hadrian himself. James of course was too busy to enquire and waved the news aside when Sirius informed him. Every day after lessons, Hadrian would floo over to Rigel's house or Rigel would floo over to Potter Castle.

Dorea was so happy and proud of her grandson that she bought him and his new best friend a beginners broom to play and after that there was no stopping the Quidditch obsessed boys. After visiting Malfoy Manor and being introduced to the Malfoy heir Draco, the three of them hit it off instantly. Draco and Rigel being second cousins knew each other from a long time and Hadrian felt a bit jealous of them having such a friendship from early age but they always included him in the conversations and told him all the pranks they had pulled when they were younger that had Hadrian howling with laughter. The boys were also very united in their mutual loathing of Edward Potter, 'The Brat Who Lived.'

James and Sirius had tried to make Edward and Rigel friends after James got wind that Hadrian and Rigel were best friends but Rigel had flat out refused to be his friend after only one meeting. James tried to force it but Rigel was outright stubborn and declared that he'd rather dye his hair red, paint freckles on his nose and be adopted as a Weasley no matter how ridiculous Rigel Weasley sounded than being friends with a ponce like Edward Potter. James took major offense at this and while Sirius was still his best friend, his opinion about his son was certainly bad and Rigel assured them that his heart had broken that day and that he still cried into his pillow at night. He also declared, amidst Hadrian's and Draco's tears of laughter and Nacrissa's amused smile, that if not for Hadrian and Draco along with his twin cousins, he'd have committed suicide long ago for disappointing James.

Rigel was too macho to admit it in front of the girls that he indeed liked them but Draco was scared of his cousins, especially Virgo and Cassiopeia Lestrange.

Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black, sister of Narcissa Malfoy nee Black had once visited Malfoy Manor once and had brought her twin daughters and Draco had avoided them like the plague, claiming they had 'the cooties.' He had flooed over to Potter Castle in a hurry, seconds before they were set to arrive but Hadrian dragged him and a reluctant Rigel back so they could introduce him to their cousins.

Bellatrix had some initial doubts about Hadrian and expected him to start boasting about his brother which she quickly quelled seeing the polite way he greeted her and also claiming he was unfortunately related to Edward Potter and hoped she would not hold it against him when asked. She was also impressed by his manners as he greeted his daughters with a bow and a kiss to the knuckles which had both of them blushing. She could tell her twins were also impressed with the other Potter twin since they had had the misfortune of meeting him once in a party. Edward Potter looked at them like they were below him and ignored all customs on how to greet pureblood ladies. Likely, he looked at them as if he expected them to kiss his hand, the utter prat.

The Lestrange twins became additions to the group and as they talked and got to know each other, Draco lost his fear of his female cousins, much to the amusement of his doting mother and reluctantly agreed that they might not be so bad. Of course Rigel and Hadrian never breathed a word about this to the girls, fearing the tantrum Draco would throw if he got wind of it.

As the turned ten, their formal schooling would begin and it promised a lot of new adventures and fun.

Author's Note: And Chapter 1 is done! I've tried to be as clear and precise as possible and avoided flashbacks and stuff. I'm so excited writing this fic that I'm going to start on the next chapter immediately and might even Chapter 2 if you folks leave lots of reviews(bribery ;-) ;-)…)

Until next time, Cheers

Rayuga.

Word Count: 3784(including Notes)


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Chapter 2

Ten year old Hadrian Potter had never felt so excited in his short life. Looking back, he did not think he would even be a little excited in life after his parents almost abandoned him in favor of his famous twin Edward Potter but fate was not too cruel to the child and instead being practically adopted by his grandparents and finding friends that actually liked him and had the same tastes and distaste(for his twin) as him was clearly good for him and a lot of positive changes in the young boy.

The reason he was chipper today was because it was the day. The day for happiness. The day for joy. The day when he and his best friends start their formal schooling.

Contrary to popular belief, pureblood students did not start learning when they joined Hogwarts when they were eleven. Rather, they started a year early. The children who started early were future heirs of prominent houses and had much more to learn than the muggleborns who would start next year. It was also done to ensure that their child did not embarrass their family name by being ignorant about what was being taught.

Back then, the child was home schooled in the basics of the subjects and while it was illegal to buy a wand, it certainly was not to use his ancestor's wand and the heavy wards that surrounded the manors made it impossible for the Ministry to detect underage magic. Besides the Ministry wouldn't dare to accuse heirs of powerful family of a crime and it was generally ignored as long as the magic was only performed behind doors and away from prying muggle eyes.

Then a few housewives got together and decided that it was beneficial for all of them if their children studied together. The young heirs could make alliances early in their life which convinced the fathers while the mothers felt that making friends early would ensure a happier school experience for their young darlings.

Hence, ideal minded families would hire tutors for their heirs in a pre-decided location and would formally begin the child's education. The tutor's fee was equally split amongst the families and sometimes, members of one family would teach for free. This process began when the children turned ten, since it would give them ample time to learn and forge friendships.

Not all families were invited and this was no open group. The Lords didn't trust their heirs with anyone except heirs of his allies and like-minded individuals only. It would give the enemies of many houses an open invitation to either kidnap or in extreme cases kill their heirs.

Hadrian couldn't shake off the smile that seemed to have been plastered to his face. He finished his morning rituals and dressed in appropriate clothes for a boy his station.

Even though Edward was the more famous one, his grandfather didn't feel he was entitled to the heirship just because the boy had a fancy mark and an even fancier title(his words) and made Hadrian the official heir of the Potter family which enraged James. He had tried to argue that Edward was the savior of their world and Charlus had calmly responded that he would have too much on his plate and cunningly stated that he might grow up to be a Chief Warlock himself which had James nodding to himself gleefully and forgot the issue. Hadrian was forever grateful to his grandfather for his support.

Dressed in an emerald green cloak and formal attire consisting of a black shirt and tie, charcoal pants followed by polished shoes, Hadrian stood in front of the mirror and observed himself. He had inherited his father's messy black hair, the Potter's curse, and after much difficulties and cosmetics, had to managed to tame his hair. He had liked his hair to be messy but grandmother Dorea absolutely forbid him to look like a common hooligan and made him comb it sideways. Draco and Rigel had snickered when he changed his hairstyle but today he had to stick with formalities. His emerald green eyes scrutinized himself, looking for flaws in his attire. It was extremely important he look perfect since would be representing the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and did not want to disappoint his grandfather. As the man said, first impressions are for life.

Satisfied, and mentally snorting at the time Draco would take to get ready, he made his way downstairs passing through the halls of Potter Castle that housed so many of his happy memories. He shuddered what he would have done without his grandparents but quickly decided against thinking somber thoughts. Today was not the day to frown and think about what-ifs.

He took a deep breath and cleared his mind. Ever since breaking down from his brother's taunts, he was embarrassed and vowed never to let it happen again and begged his grandfather to help him. His grandfather taught him the basics of the mind arts, and after discovering that he had a natural affinity for them, began tutoring him in Occlumency. When Hadrian had questioned why he couldn't learn Legillimency also, his grandfather had explained that his mind needed to mature more before he could thrust his awareness into someone else's mind and suggested he practice only Occlumency for now.

His mind shields were incredible for someone his age and while they were far from indestructible, he could hold on until he could break eye contact. He also made full use of the side effects of Occlumency which enabled him to clear his mind and control his emotions and gain a near perfect memory.

He arrived in the informal dining room to find his grandparents both seated for breakfast and the Head Elf Rago who was serving his grandfather, who was as usual absorbed into the Daily Prophet while his grandmother was sipping tea. She noticed him entering and her face split into a wide smile "Who's this handsome devil? My my, the girls don't stand a chance with you Hadrian."

"Grandmother!" Hadrian whined, who could feel his face become hot and imagining the ridicule he would get if Rigel got wind of this, he quickly cleared his embarrassment and took a seat. Rago gave him a bow and asked "The usual Master Hadrian?"

"Yes please Rago."

"At once, Master Harry."

Breakfast proceeded silently, with the occasional ruffling of the newspaper and chinks of china. Hadrian polished down his breakfast(toast, eggs and milk) with the grace of a pureblood lord which earned him a smile from his grandmother.

She cleared her throat and Charlus looked up and smiled "Ah Hadrian all done. I suppose we have a little time left and I wish to speak to you about some matters. Come, let us move to my study."

A little confused, Hadrian dutifully followed his grandfather to the Lord's study and stood at attention before his grandfather took a seat behind the enormous claw footed mahogany desk and took a seat when his grandfather nodded towards the chair.

While his grandfather was busy waving his wand and enacting the privacy charms of the room, Hadrian surveyed the room that always managed to awe him even though he'd been here a thousand times. Generations of Potter Lords had left their own personal tastes to the huge circular room and it had always felt homey to Hadrian.

There was a large window to the side which allowed sunlight to flood the room. Against the wall, there was a huge bookcase containing the favorite books of the current Potter Lord for his leisure reading. Currently, it was crammed with law and warding books. There was a huge elaborate marble fireplace to the right above which there was a gigantic muggle painting of the first Potter, Rictus Potter. There was a blood warded safe hidden behind that painting which his grandfather had shown him once.

In all, the room sang out to him and it was one of his happiest memories when his grandfather had fondly placed him on his lap when he was four and promised him that one day he would sit in the very chair as the Potter Lord. He would rule over the Potter lands as was his right as firstborn and there was nothing James could do about this since Hadrian was born seven minutes earlier than Edward who was born just before the stroke of midnight and the laws of inheritance was the same for everyone, even for prophesized toddlers.

Hadrian snapped out of his thoughts when his grandfather cleared his throat and addressed him "Heir Potter."

Immediately, Hadrian snapped into heir mode. This was no longer his grandfather addressing him but the Lord of the Potter clans. He immediately bowed his head deeply and uttered "Lord Potter."

Charlus surveyed his heir for a second before speaking "Today you begin your first step into the world. You are going to begin your education and slowly step into your duties and responsibilities as heir of Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter. I hope you are aware that your days as a child is over?"

"Yes Lord Potter. I accept my role as the heir to this great house and I promise to bring honor to this house while making sure I do not disgrace to this house." Hadrian said in a formal voice, gulping slightly about his new responsibilities.

"I have utmost faith in you my heir. In fact, I didn't call you to remind you of your duties but instead give you your birthright." Charlus said and smiled when he saw the curious expression on his heir's face.

He cleared and spoke "It is every heir's right to represent the family they are born into and as a heir of a Most Ancient and Most Nobel House, you represent centuries of culture and traditions. While we were warriors when we established Wizengamot, swords and other weapons were discarded in favor of wands. But it was not forgotten. While it is frowned upon to carry swords and other weapons, it is certainly not illegal and for few houses, namely Blacks and Potters, it is a birthright my child."

"How grandfather? Even if we are one of the oldest families of Britain, how is it that only two houses get this birthright?" Hadrian asked, bringing the Potter Charter to his mind and finding nothing about this illusive birthright.

"This Hadrian is a recently acquired right. Just a few decades back actually." Charlus said cheerfully. "It was something that was awarded to me and Lord Black by the Queen."

"The Queen?! She knows about our world?!"

"No need to look so shocked lad. Even though she does not rule directly does not mean we are not bound to the Crown. The Queen is updated with everything major going on in the wizarding world and she has the power to outrank the Ministry also. Only the Wizengamot can challenge her and that too with a three-fourth majority support."

"Why haven't I heard this before?" Hadrian asked, his mind reeling from the shock that Her Majesty was aware about magic's existence and could impose her rule any day.

"Ah you'll learn all this in your history and politics classes. I accidentally let it slip but pay no heed. Back to the topic, me and Lord Black were awarded Baronship for our services in the Grindlewald war and we have decided to make a statement through our heirs."

"I don't understand grandfather." Hadrian was utterly bewildered.

"I will explain everything when you are old enough Hadrian. Do you trust me?"

"With my life."

"The trust me on this. This is for the good of the Magical World and for the future of all houses. Now come." Charlus said, waving him towards the fireplace. Charlus waved his wand and the painting slid apart, revealing the vault. Even Hadrian who didn't know much about wards could feel the lethal power of the wards even at that distance.

Charlus conjured a flawless silver dagger, and laughed noticing the open mouth shock his grandson and said fondly "You will be able to do this one day Hadrian. Transfiguration after all runs in our blood."

'I sure hope so.' Hadrian thought, mouth still hanging in awe and winced as his grandfather sliced his palm without even a grimace and held the bloody palm in front of the wall.

At once, there was a flash and the Potter family Totem, a griffin screeched into existence and judged the blood on Charlus's palms and after a moment, screeched its approval and vanished. The wall behind the fireplace faded to reveal the Potter family vault and his grandfather ventured inside.

Again, Hadrian was left was speechless even though he'd seen this procedure many times and again felt his respect rise for his ancestors.

His grandfather had once explained some, if not all the security measures to open the vault. The first invisible requirement was that the dagger for drawing blood must be conjured. An intruder would come prepared with a knife and the magic would immediately recognize it but wouldn't react, luring the intruder into a false sense of security. When Hadrian had questioned what difference a conjured knife or a purchased one make, his grandfather had laughed and said "Magic Hadrian. While the metal is same, the conjured one is purely made from your magic and that makes all the difference in the world."

The next one, hidden among the nastiest wards and curses was that once the magic of the vault determined it as an imposter a false vault would open and once the imposter made it inside, pure Darkness would be waiting for him. When questioned further, grandfather had shivered and said he would learn it later from the Family Grimoire when he was fifteen.

The sounds of his grandfather's approaching footsteps snapped Hadrian out of his thoughts and when he looked at it, Hadrian couldn't help but stare open mouthed.

Charlus held an ornate scabbard that was ivory in color with jewels studded on it but that was nothing compared to the sword when Charlus drew the sword from inside. It was around 20 inches and was made of a dark metal. It's wicked sharp edges glinted in the morning sun and the pommel was decorated with a griffin head with a small golden beak and ruby red eyes. Hadrian gasped when he saw the runes etched on the flat of the blade. It ran along the entire length of the blade and glowed red weakly with a power of its own.

"This is Bloodlust. While I am unaware of who is this sword's creator is, this sword has seen a lot of blood and the sword has absorbed the power in the blood as its own. This is no ordinary sword anymore. This is a very rare Potter Family heirloom."

"But grandfather, what if I lose this priceless sword?! What if I accidentally cut myself?! What if I can't lift it?! What if I use it against Edward?! "

"Easy lad. I would never be foolish enough to give a sword that could hurt my own grandsons. The runes etched on the sword binds the sword to our bloodline. It will never hurt anyone with our blood and hence rest assured you can't hurt Edward or yourself unless it's a formal duel. The runes will also ensure that no matter where you lose this sword, it will always return to you and once you bond with this sword, it will fit.. Tell you what, why don't you see for yourself?"

Hadrian nodded eagerly and his grandfather handed him the sword. He had expected it to be very heavy but it was impossibly light. Charlus conjured a silver dagger again and nicked his grandson's finger and blood started flowing. Hadrian knew he had to work on his occlumency when he couldn't stop a wince from showing.

"Here Hadrian, smear some blood on the first rune here." Charlus instructed, pointing towards the first rune in the sequence, a rune shaped like a thunderbolt. Hadrian gasped as it was exactly similar to the cursed mark on his twin brother's forehead.

Charlus nodded gravely "Yes, that mark. It is the Sowilo, a rune signifying, in simple words, power. Your brother indeed has some divine power…. but that's neither here nor there." Charlus added quickly, seeing the crestfallen look on Hadrian's face as it became apparent that his brother was indeed special.

Hadrian smeared the blood on the rune dejectedly and suddenly the runes flared with power. Hadrian yelped, as his mind was suddenly assaulted with a strange magic and he had the strangest notion that he was being judged and he stared back defiantly at the strange magic in his mindscape.

The magic seemed to nod and disappeared in a dazzling show of light and Hadrian staggered as his mind was bombared with the knowledge on different styles and stances of using the sword. Hadrian, using his Occlumency skills, quickly caught all the information and before it could clutter his mindscape, put it in a separate folder and imprinted his magic on it so that it was protected and he could examine it later.

"Hadrian are you okay? Talk to me son." Charlus asked worriedly as his favorite grandson swooned and looked as if he was about to faint.

The dizziness vanished as suddenly as it came and Hadrian gasped "I know grandfather. I know it."

Charlus looked even more worried, as the unexpected magic seemed to have rendered his grandson insane. Seeing his grandfather's expression, Hadrian rolled his eyes and said "I'm fine. The sword's magic seemed to judge me and as soon as I passed some sort of test, it exploded and I suddenly have the knowledge on how to use the sword."

Charlus mused "well, I certainly didn't expect that. Go ahead Hadrian, show me what you can do."

Hadrian looked at the sword and to his shock, it seemed to have shrunk and fit to him perfectly. It looked like it was custom made to him alone. It was around half its original length and the runes seemed to have been compressed which was now glowing merrily.

Calling the sword fighting folder into the forefront of his mind, he gave a experimental slash and to his surprise, it was very clumsy. It was nothing like the graceful slashing that he knew he could do but his body wasn't responding to that. He gave another stab, a lighting fast accurate one in his mind but a slow, sloppy stab was all he got. He growled in frustration.

"No need to growl Hadrian." Charlus chuckled. "This makes perfect sense actually."

"Well?" Hadrian demanded.

"Just because you were granted the knowledge does not mean you will be phenomenal instantly. Like all the masters in their fields, you must practice and incorporate that knowledge into muscle memory. Makes sense?" seeing Hadrian nod tentatively, "In simple words, you must practice and practice until your mind and body are one. Thanks to your occlumency your mind is sufficiently ahead but your body needs to practice."

"So I won't be able to use the sword until I train?" Hadrian asked calmly. He of all people knew that nothing was free and if it was, then it wasn't worth the effort in the first place.

"Exactly lad. I think we can add swordsmanship into your training now." Charlus said, mentally analyzing the advantages this would bring to his grandson.

"We need to find someone who can train me. While it is easy to train here, how can I train when I leave for school?" Hadrian asked, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Let me worry about those details lad. Nothing is impossible, not when you are a member of Wizengamot and also hold power in the Board of Directors." Charlus smiled crookedly and Hadrian smiled back, thinking about the outrageous power his family held in their world.

"Another thing I wanted to talk to you about Hadrian… well this topic is quite… sensitive. Do you swear to hear me out and won't judge me till you hear the entire thing?" Charlus asked, a unnoticeable nervousness in his voice.

Hadrian was puzzled "Of course I will grandfather. Why would I judge you? After all, you have done nothing but good for me. Tell me what is this all about."

"I wish for you to build alliances with other Noble houses only and do not interact with muggleborns."

Silence.

"Um, okaaaaaay. Not judging, but aren't you sounding a tiny bit like… a blood purist grandfather?"

Charlus hated to see the guarded expression on his grandson's face but he had to do this, for the good of his grandson and the world as a whole. He took a deep breath and said "Hadrian, you know I never believed in the garbage that muggleborns steal magic and make us weaker, and have never supported views which demand that we ban them from our world. They have the gift of magic just like the rest of us."

"But through the years, times have changed Hadrian. While you remained as a child, the world has changed drastically and it will be political suicide if I do not mention these to you myself. It will not look good if the heir of Potter is clueless when he should be fully aware."

"Why should I be aware of this grandfather? Unless I was oblivated, I have never taken part in blood supremacy debates." Hadrian asked, the last part with a bit of sarcasm, which brought a smile upon Charlus's face.

"I shall get to that part in the end. Let them give you the basic details which you will be expected to know. While the Wizengamot has and always will uphold the concept and principles of nobility, the same cannot be said for the Ministry. After your twin brother defeated the Dark Lord, the Dark faction was caught off footed and this gave the Light an advantage which Albus Dumbledore seized. Using the new found influence and power, he immediately had the Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold removed and appointed a muggleborn Steven Banks as the new Minister."

"Okay, a muggleborn Minister. That is bad?" Hadrian asked, baffled. His whole life, he had never expected to have such a conversation with his grandfather.

"Hadrian, when you visit Lord Black's Manor, do you follow the rules set by Lord Black? Do you open doors that the Lord Black has expressly forbidden you and little Rigel to open?" Charlus asked suddenly, intently observing his grandson who looked shocked at the suggestion.

"Of course not! Even though me, Rigel and Draco play a variety of pranks, we stay away from the forbidden corridors that Lord Black has warned us not to visit. It is improper for a guest to openly disobey the laws set by the guests."

Charlus hid a smile at his grandson's words and suddenly asked "Hadrian, suppose you visit Magical China and some madman makes you the supreme ruler. What do you think you would do? How well would you rule?"

Hadrian snorted "I'd be dreadful. First of all, I'm not Chinese so I wouldn't know what problems persisted in the cities and villages and if I don't know that, I wouldn't know how to help them. In short, I would be a terrible ruler and you should probably hex that madman." He added with a laugh.

Charlus laughed and said "Well spoken my child. I believe you have answered all your questions Hadrian."

Hadrian's eyes widened. "An outsider with power and no vision is of no use to anyone."

"Sometimes you frighten me with your amazingly mature words Hadrian." Charlus said lightly, a small grin showing that he was kidding. Hadrian huffed "Well, it's what I think."

Charlus grew somber. "You've thought right Hadrian. The current Minister is an absurd fool at best and is trying his best to hoard riches and power for himself and his kind. He is least concerned about the magical world."

Hadrian stared at him. "Then kick him out for Godsake. Don't you have enough influence to call for a vote of no confidence or something?" It was that simple in Hadrian's head.

Charlus smiled at his grandson and said "I wish it was that easy Hadrian. There are a lot of factors that is playing its course in our legislation and I will not bore you with details. At least not until you're older." He added when he saw that Hadrian was about to open his mouth. Seeing him nod reluctantly, he continued "The basic reason we cannot remove him is Dumbledore." And Hadrian was surprised at the barely disguised venom in his tone.

Seeing that Hadrian was still quiet, Charlus continued "The main reason I began this topic is to warn you to stay away from Dumbledore. I know I might seem a bit controlling but I do not want you to interact with him my son."

"As you command." Hadrian bowed, agreeing without hesitance. "I'm no muggleborn who's enamored by the great 'Leader of the Light' grandfather." Hadrian said with a snort.

"That's good to hear Hadrian. I'm sure Lords Black and Malfoy have instructed their heirs to avoid contact with him also. But since our family is close to him." Charlus sneered. "He will invite you to have teas and I want you to reject his invitations if it does not regard academics. If he insists, I want you to insist that I be present. I hope he does insist." Charlus finished with a maniacal sneer.

"I know mom and dad adore him and that's more than enough reason for me to stay away from him." Hadrian sneered back and Charlus was taken aback at the anger he voice held when he spoke of his parents but he really couldn't bring himself to change the child's views when he himself was disgusted at the level his son and daughter-in law had fallen.

"Now that that's taken care of, let's get you to the school." Hadrian's eyes suddenly ignited with excitement as the new phase of his life was about to begin.

He couldn't wait.

A.N: I'm back and yes, this fic is still alive. After losing a variety of games badly, I got so frustrated I just finished this chapter in a matter of two hours. I hope to get back to form soon enough and pump out a chapter at least once a week. Now a few notes about the fic.

1\. If you expected Hadrian to be insanely strong with unbeatable mental walls and terrifying sword skills, not happening sorry. I don't see the point in him training if he's that strong from birth itself and I cannot bring myself to write that. He's talented yes, but in the end he's just a ten year old boy.

2\. The swords. Kudos if you managed to guess the source of that inspiration. I always was a big Game of Thrones fan and I love the concept of families possessing ancestral swords and I plan to slowly bring about this theme in my fic. Again, Game of thrones doesn't belong to me and I'm only borrowing the concept.

3\. I know many of you are confused about the totems and other vague references I've made here and fret not dear readers, I shall make it clearer as the fic hopefully moves forward.

4\. I read a few reviews where I was suggested to reduce the size of the paragraphs and I have tried to implement it. I know it's not perfect since I'm used to long paragraphs and it'll take me a few chapters to get it right. Hope you don't hold it against me. ;-)

5\. As usual, more reviews and more love, more chapters.

6\. I've proof read this but nobody is perfect and since I don't have a beta reader, I hope you forgive the small mistakes.

Hope you enjoyed this.

Until next time

Rayuga.

Word Limit(including AN): 4680 words.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Chapter 3

The location for the homeschooling of the rich pureblood heirs was never fixed. Every year, a Lord offered the services of his Manor and it was usually a trusted ally. It was an unwritten rule that each Lord could offer to host once and he would have to wait until everyone else got a turn as well. This year, it was hosted by Baron Arcturus Black at the Black Townhouse London.

The floo roared to life and Baron Potter and his heir stepped out of the fireplace. Charlus waved his hand and all the soot on his and Hadrian's clothes vanished. He stepped forward and firmly shook the hands of the waiting Baron Black. His Lady Melania Black nee Selwyn offered him a small courtesy which he accepted with a smile.

Hadrian solemnly stepped forward and gave a deep of respect and uttered "Baron and Baroness Black. Thank you for providing the opportunity for me to learn at your esteemed Manor."

Arcturus gave him an approving nod while Melania swept all formalities aside and gave him a warm hug. "Enough formalities dear. This is your house and you are welcome anytime you want." Hadrian, pink in the face, nodded his agreement.

A slight snort quickly made him clear his face of embarrassment and looked at his best friend Rigel Black standing with his grandparents. He was dressed to the nines like him, with a navy blue shirt, trousers and stylish robes which Hadrian would bet cost more than a Ministry clerk earned in a year.

He stepped forward and gave a deep bow to Orion Black and kissed the knuckles of Walburga Black. "Lady Walburga, your beauty increases day by day." Hadrian managed to say without stuttering and with a charming smile on his face. The effect was instantaneous. The Baron and baroness quickly hid their smiles while Orion gave a deep laugh. Walburga Black meanwhile slapped him lightly on the chest and said "Shush you. The ladies better be careful when you start Hogwarts. My my, such a charming young devil."

"But grandma, you said I was the most charming young devil." Rigel whined, throwing a mock scowl at Hadrian for flirting with his grandmother. Walburga fixed her grandson with an exasperated look. "Don't whine Rigel. It is beneath a child of your standing. Besides both of you are my charming boys and that's all I'm going to say."

Rigel smiled mischievously and said "Besides you're too old for Hadrian anyways Grandma."

Orion interfered quickly seeing the blush on Hadrian's face and his wife's irritation. "Rigel, Hadrian, I expect you boys to be on your absolute best behavior. Playing games and silly jokes are funny with family only and I refuse to hear heirs of Potter and Black behave like common hooligans like your fathers did at school. Understood?"

Hadrian nodded simply while Rigel responded with a crisp "Yes sir."

"Good. Now Hadrian I trust you know your way around here." Arcturus asked, and upon his nod, "I suggest you make your way to the classroom then. Rigel will join you once he has greeted all the Lords and finishes his responsibilities. Off you go, son."

Hadrian gave a small bow to Orion and Arcturus and called "Bye Grandfather" over his shoulder while walking as fast as he could to the classroom without outright breaking into a run. He looked behind and he heard Rigel whine again "I wish the blond ponce would get here already. Even mom doesn't take as much time to dress up as Draco does and mom's Lady Black!"

Chuckling quietly at his best friend's impatience, Hadrian walked towards the second floor where a room had to be furnished to be used as a classroom for the young Lord and Ladies. As he walked up the curving black marble staircase, he looked around at the house he had visited almost every day and still could not believe the wealth on display here. It was no secret that some houses like Potters, Blacks and the Longbottoms were filthy rich but to see the opulent decoration that would make any collector salivate always amazed him.

The decorations were not gaudy and the intention was not to flaunt being rich like the ones at Longbottom Manor which he had the misfortune to visit. The decorations were tastefully placed, and were no doubt priceless, made it very pleasing to look at. Whoever had decorated the house clearly knew what they were doing and Hadrian was willing to bet it was grandmother Melania as she refused to allow anyone to decorate her house.

The dark theme felt so natural to Hadrian and he took quiet solace in the darkness as he made his way to the open door. For as long as he could remember, the darkness did not scare him. It was quite opposite in fact, he felt safe and protected in the shadows. He could remember how his twin would screaming that the there were haunting faces in the room when the lights were out and it finally took him sleeping in Lily and James room for him to keep quiet. Hadrian was obviously left back in the nursery itself.

'He's one lousy Boy Who Lived. It's a miracle how he beat the Dark Lord.' Hadrian thought maliciously. 'Anyways it's not proven that HE beat the Dark Lord anyways.' He added to himself as forethought.

He reached the room which would act as his classroom for a year and he could hear the murmur of voices inside. Keeping a tight control over his palpable excitement, he schooled his face into a calm mask and stepped inside. The talking stopped and Hadrian observed the people inside.

The first thing he noticed was the blonde girl observing him along with a black haired girl, both dressed in very fine clothes. He had met the blonde girl many times in pureblood events and galas and was quite familiar with her. She stepped forward and offered her right hand. Hadrian took the offered hand and with a slight bow, kissed her knuckles and said "Daphne, you look radiant today."

Daphne smiled prettily and said "Charming as always Hadrian." She indicated to her friend and said " Heir Potter, May I introduce my friend Tracey, Daughter of the Ancient and Noble House of Davis." Tracey stepped forward and gave a courtesy and said "It's a pleasure Heir Potter."

Hadrian gave a crisp nod and said "Pleasure is all mine Miss Davis. Please call me Hadrian"

"Thank you Hadrian. It's Tracey to you too." Tracey said with a small smile.

"Now that formalities have been taken care of, how have you been Hadrian?" Daphne said, as she sat back up on the desk, her apparent role as a lady forgotten. This was one of the reasons why Hadrian preferred her company. She could go from a pureblood princess to a fun loving girl in less than a second and had a wicked sense of humor that made her fun to be around with.

"I'm good. I can't wait to start learning." Hadrian grinned and Tracey looked unsure as both of them went from heir mode to kid mode easily. "Is this your first time here in Black Townhouse Tracey?"

"Yes, my father requested Lord Greengrass to allow me to attend here. I'm so excited." Tracey said with a happy grin. Hadrian found himself liking her. She was bubbly like Daphne.

Hadrian made small talk with them and the room gradually filled up with various heirs and heiresses. Finally Rigel walked in with Draco who looked every bit of a pureblood prince with his perfectly styled hair and tasteful clothes. Rigel looked annoyed.

"Seriously man, how long does it take for a bloke to get dressed Draco? Grandfather wouldn't let me leave until you showed up. Hadrian was here ages ago."

"Yeah well Hadrian isn't a Malfoy. Malfoys always look their best. Always." Draco said snottily, flicking imaginary lint off his shoulder. Rigel just rolled his eyes and indicated towards Tracey "So Daphne, you gonna introduce your friend to us?"

"Of course. Heir Black, Heir Malfoy, May I introduce my friend, Tracey, Daughter of the Ancient and Noble House of Davis. Tracey, This is Heir Black and Heir Malfoy." Daphne said in a very pleasant voice and indicated at each other. Tracey gave a courtesy "Heir Black, Heir Malfoy."

Both Rigel and Draco nodded. "It is good to meet you Miss Davis. You can call me Rigel."

"You can call me Draco." Draco said charmingly.

Tracey smiled "It's Tracey."

They stood there talking excitedly about what they would learn and a little of their home lives. Hadrian was tight lipped about his brother and everyone, except Tracey knew that it was a sore topic for him and Tracey soon found out when he refused to answer about his brother. By then, many of their friends made their way over to their group.

Blaise Zabini sauntered his way over to them and slapped Draco on the back, slinging his hands over Draco and Hadrian's shoulder earning him an indignant squeak "You Neanderthal. Get your hands off me!"

"The Malfoy princess seems to be in a foul mood today. What, don't like to start school eh?" Blaise asked Draco, a blinding smile on his face looking at the now murderous expression on the Malfoy heir's face.

"I thought I told you to stop calling me princess you jerk. One time. It was one time." Draco snarled, his face quite pink. He was about to start an argument when he realized his surroundings and instead opted to sniff haughtily "Well, tardy are we Blaise? Weren't you supposed to show up earlier?"

Blaise waved hand casually and stated "It's called being fashionably late Drake. I wouldn't expect you to know about it."

Seeing Draco bristle again, Hadrian rolled his eyes and said in a deadpan "Your mom took time to decide your clothes didn't she?"

Immediately Blaise became flustered while Draco's expression became gleeful. "Of course not! Don't be dense Hadrian." Blaise hissed.

Draco had a gleam in his eyes. "It's okay Blaise. Mrs. Zabini tried her best but even a world class fashion designer couldn't get someone like you look good." He finished with a fake sympathetic smile.

"Why you! I at least have naturally good looks. I don't look like a blond albino who spends a ton of galleons on hair gel." Blaise goaded.

Draco lost his cool and was about to retort when Daphne gave a delicate cough and gave them both a silent glare. Both of them visibly cowed under her glare and she said sweetly "Boys, please save your uncultured debate on who's vainer for later please."

Draco nodded while Blaise whispered not so quietly to Hadrian "That one's scary." Hadrian gave a snort but didn't reply. Blaise noticed Tracey standing besides Daphne and called "Hey Tracey. Good to see you."

"Good to see you too Blaise."

"You have met Tracey before?" Rigel asked curiously. Blaise who was looking around bored, looked startled and said "Uh, yeah. I've met her many times in Greengrass Manor whenever mom goes to visit Mrs Greengrass and dragged me along. Didn't I mention it to you?"

"Nope it never came up. Forget that, great-grandfather is here. I think we're gonna begin soon!" Rigel said excitedly as the lords began trickling In following Arcturus inside the room. Every heir inside the room without any command took their seats and the parents sat at the front of the rooms in ornate chairs provided by house elves. Hadrian counted 13 heirs including him. He snorted to himself thinking about the politically power that was present in the single room. All of these heirs were set to inherit very strong houses and Hadrian was determined to have them as allies. Considering that this group was rather exclusive, he hoped that these children wouldn't be enamored by his twin and be friends too.

Once everyone settled down, Arcturus got up and there was immediate silence as everyone turned their attention to the formidable Arcturus Black standing proud and surveying the room. "Welcome Lords, Ladies and heirs, welcome to Black Townhouse." Arcturus began in a loud voice that carried authority and was audible in every corner of the room. "I am Baron Black and I welcome you warmly. Education is the best gift you as heirs can receive from your parents, not vaults, not titles or Wizengamot seats. No, the power of education is enormous because, with education, a poor man can build an empire from scratch and without education, a king can lose his empire so I urge you to take your studies very seriously. Not everyone is as fortunate as you to be receiving first class education before you start Hogwarts. Many go there without a clue on how magic works and make a fool of themselves regardless of their blood status. I again urge you to take full advantage of this opportunity."

Hadrian listened with rapt attention, impressed by the oratory skills of his pseudo-grandfather. Arcturus always told his grandsons power came in many different ways and Hadrian realized this was one of them. The ability to sway a crowd with words alone. Any thug with half a strong magical core can throw curses around be considered powerful but this was true power. It also helped that Arcturus Black was deadly with a wand as well. Hadrian fervently hoped one day he would as powerful as the man who stood before him.

"I do not want to fill your young heads with ideas like blood purism and pureblood culture but the situation in the world we live in had forced me to carry this duty. While you were enjoying your childhood behind our protective wards, the world outside has changed drastically. We Old Families are accused of being blood purists and intolerant towards the immigration of muggleborns" Arcturus spat the word with such fury it startled everyone "and that we do not provide them ample opportunities to thrive. They have the idea that since they come from the 'advanced' muggle world, it's up to them to 'modernize' us."

Not noticing the frowns marring their faces, Arcturus paused to take a breath and continued "We are all witches and wizards first and foremost, pureblood or muggleborn, blessed by Mother Magic and even if there are some hardcore blood purists among us, not all of us have issues with new blood entering our world. Not all of us have problems with them holding a good job. Not all of us have problems sharing our lives with them but ALL OF US have a problem with them belittling our culture and we absolutely cannot tolerate them calling us backwards."

Rigel's breath hitched in his throat as he noticed the barely suppressed rage behind the grey eyes of Arcturus Black. The man looked calm enough as he paused to take a breath but Rigel could see the magic begging to be let out behind the now glowing grey eyes that was no doubt being suppressed by the man's formidable mind shields. Seeing this side of his grandfather, he had no doubt this man was the mage who had fought Grindelwald himself to a standstill. He looked at his friends and saw the same awestruck expression on their face and awe on Hadrian's face, he couldn't help but feel proud to call Arcturus grandfather and to bear the name Black.

He was aware about his family's less than stellar reputation in their society and the madness that plagued their bloodline. They didn't openly show it but Rigel himself could it inside him, a part of him that lurked deep inside his mind that wasn't supposed to be let out. Even his father who claimed to be the 'white' sheep in the family, displayed it whenever he got angry at something. For years, it had bothered Rigel but now he couldn't help but feel that his concerns were silly. Who cared if they had madness in their minds? As his aunt Bella said, the Blacks were above everyone and married and mingled in very specific social circles. The Blacks were always at the forefront of society and Rigel vowed to make his family proud.

Arcturus had calmed down and said "These muggleborns want to replace our quills with 'pens', give freedom to house elves and want to govern us since they're the modern ones." Arcturus took a deep breath and continued "Sharing power is ideal but I will not allow an outsider to tell me what to do. How do you expect an outsider to know that the quills tap into our magic and make sure our signatures cannot be forged and make our handwriting neat and unique to us? How do you expect an outsider to know that we share a symbiotic relationship with house elves and they need our magic to survive? How do you expect us noble Lords and Ladies to take orders from filthy MUDBLOODS?"

Hadrian looked at the other Lords and Ladies and found them visibly agreeing with the Black patriarch. He had expected at least one of them to react badly when the racist slur was uttered but not one protested. It was either that they completely agreed with Baron Black or they were too scared to protest against him openly. Hadrian personally thought it was more of the latter than former since it would be political and literal suicide to make an enemy of Arcturus Black and by extension House Black itself.

Arcturus surveyed everyone again before he continued "The muggleborns have already made several bids to grab absolute power but for now we have them at a stalemate. They may have power in the Ministry due to that mudblood minister Banks but for absolute power they need to breach the Wizengamot and that my dear children, is our turf. They cannot pass laws without a two-third majority and they know it so they have started to gain support from other Noble houses and I cannot say I am not worried about this development. Rest assured we will fight to the bitter end to hold them off but we are the older generation, our time is slowly coming to an end. It will be up to you to continue this fight. I cannot tell you what to do, oh no, but I advise you to think before making any sort of alliance with them. Know that your association could very well decide what world your own children will grow in. A world where our culture, traditions and beliefs endures and prospers or" his tone turned darker "a mechanized world where our culture and tradition are disregarded for modernism and inventions and ruled by outsiders."

Thunderous applause met the end of Baron Black's speech and the message was loud and clear to the young hearts. Make the right choice, for the sake of the entire world that was in balance now and for Hadrian, he had already made a choice when his grandfather had asked him and this just furthered his determination. He did not want to live in world ruled by people like his 'mother'.

Arcturus Black gave a deep bow and raised his hands for silence. The noise slowly faded and Arcturus began "Now that being said, it is a tradition to introduce our heirs to our allies at the first day and being the traditionally proud man I am, I take this opportunity to introduce my great grandson, the future Lord Black, Rigel."

Rigel stood from his place and walked to the front of the room and gave his grandfather a deep bow. He then turned to other Lords and gave them a similar bow. He finally turned to the heirs and gave a small incline nod of the head "I look forward to learning with you and one day would like to consider you as friends and allies."

Every one of the heirs stood up and gave Rigel a deep bow except Hadrian and Draco who gave him a similar nod. Rigel nodded once and returned to his seat next to Hadrian. Draco mouthed "Good job" to which Rigel smirked and winked.

Arcturus smiled proudly before he took his seat and Charlus Potter stood up and walked forward. Hadrian steeled himself as his grandfather began "Greetings everyone. In case you do not know, I am Baron Potter, the Lord Potter and yes the grandfather of the boy-who-lived. Today I stand proud to introduce my grandson, the one who is not fame obsessed and prides himself on being a model. I present to you, the future Lord Potter, Hadrian."

Hadrian stood up from his place and walked forward, feeling the weight of all the eyes on him but he squashed his nervousness with his mind shields and reached the front of the room. He similar to Rigel gave a deep bow to his Lord grandfather Charlus first, then another one to the lords and ladies present and looked at the faces of his future classmates and hopefully allies. He gave one crisp nod and said "I look forward to learning with you and one day like to consider you as friends and allies."

Similar to before, everyone except Draco and Rigel stood up and gave a deep bow while his two best friends gave similar nods. Hadrian then went back and took his place next to his friends.

Abraxus Malfoy stood up next and Hadrian saw Draco pool his face into his haughty, cold mask and was impressed how poncy Draco looked but for the sake of formality he did not comment on it and looked on as the Malfoy patriarch began "Hearty greetings to all. I am Lord Abraxus Malfoy and it gives me immense pleasure to introduce the future Lord Malfoy, Draconis."

Draco grimaced for a second before his mask was back on place as he walked forward to the front while Blaise looked on with concealed glee at the usage of Draco's full name. 'No doubt there'll be hell for Draco later.' Hadrian thought amusedly as he watched Draco bow to his grandfather and other Lords before giving them a nod. "I look forward to learning with you and one day like to consider you as friends and allies."

Similarly, all the other Lords and the Lady Zabini introduced their heirs formally to everyone as per tradition and Hadrian found himself nodding to his friends as Daphne was introduced by her father Lord Cyrus Greengrass, Tracey by her grandfather Roger Davis the First, Blaise by his mother Lady Xiana Zabini.

Hadrian soon found himself being introduced to the heirs of 'like-minded' allies as the Carrow twins, Flora and Hestia was introduced by Lord Simon Carrow, Theodore Nott by his grandfather Lord Tiberius Nott, Vincent Crabbe Jr and Gregory Goyle who Hadrian had met briefly while visiting Draco was introduced by their fathers Lord Vincent Crabbe Sr and Thomas Goyle. Lord Macmillan then introduced his son Ernie whom Hadrian had never met and Lord Goldstein introduced his heir, Antony who was also unfamiliar to Hadrian.

With the formalities over, Arcturus stood up and addressed the crowd "With the introductions over, I give you the opportunities to make new friends and make allies today and tomorrow your instructors will arrive and you can all formally begin. I bid you a good day. Refreshments are provided." Arcturus said, waving his hand to the corners where the house elves had silently popped in and were keeping various food items on the table. "You are free to leave anytime and I hope you have a joyful learning experience here at Black Manor."

Loud applause greeted the end of speech and the crowd broke to intermingle amongst themselves and chat. Hadrian looked at Draco and asked "Where are aunt Bella and the twins?" Draco shrugged and replied "They're ill. A nasty fever it seems. Aunt Bella is furious but who can she attack? The germs?"

Hadrian suppressed a smile at the thought of Bellatrix who insisted to be called 'aunt' due to him being related to the Black family, cursing the hell out of invisible germs. Schooling his features, he nudged Rigel and Draco and said "Come let's make some new friends."

"Do we have to?" Rigel yawned while Draco looked bored with the thought as well. Sighing, Hadrian said "We need to have them as acquaintances at least if we are to have a productive learning experience and besides, they're mostly purebloods i think so you can't complain" throwing a look at Draco who looked skeptical "and they might be fun as well" to Rigel who looked interested now.

Sighing and knowing Hadrian wouldn't give in, Draco got to his feet while Daphne giggled at his ruffled expression to which he responded with a glare that absolutely did not faze her and said " Well lets go."

The group made their way forward to the different groups who were quietly talking amongst themselves. The Carrow twins, Nott, Crabbe and Goyle stood in a group while the Macmillan heir and Goldstein heir stood a little distance apart. They noticed the group approaching and they all nervously bowed to them, especially Hadrian, Draco and Rigel.

Draco and Hadrian, in their element, gave a crisp nod while Rigel gave them a grin. Seeing Rigel's grin seemed to put them little at ease and they relaxed their posture marginally. Unknown to them, the other Lords and Ladies were all observing the interaction discretely. The future literally hung in balance with how these children interacted and they wouldn't miss observing this scene for anything.

Hadrian offered his hands first, the unofficial leader amongst them to Theodore Nott who accepted it with slightly shaky hands and said "I'm Hadrian. Nice to meet you Heir Nott."

Theodore nodded, hiding any signs of nervousness from being close to the Potter family heir and said in a measured voice "Likewise Hadrian. Please call me Theodore or Theo." Hadrian smiled, a little warmly and said "Theo it is then."

He then turned to the Carrow twins who offered their hands which Hadrian kissed and smiled "Enchanted to be in your company ladies. Hadrian."

This left the twin girls blushing while Rigel and Draco looked on in barely concealed amusement. Daphne had a tiny frown on her face which vanished before anyone could confirm and looked at the red faced girls with indifference "Pleasure is all ours Hadrian. Please, its Flora and Hestia."

Hadrian smiled, his green eyes glittering which made his face look even more adorable before he turned to Crabbe and Goyle which he gave a handshake and nod since he was already acquainted with them. "Vincent." "Gregory"

The final two boys stepped forward and Hadrian took a second to analyze them. Both as expected wore high quality robes and stood stiffly waiting to be addressed. Hadrian wondered why Baron Black would invite the Macmillan and Goldstein heir since they were traditionally Light and were not a part of their faction nor alliance. Shrugging at the reason, Hadrian offered his hands and said neutrally "I am Hadrian Potter. Pleased to make your acquaintance heir Macmillan."

The Macmillan heir gave a stiff nod and shook his hands "Likewise Hadrian. It's Ernie." For some reason, Hadrian couldn't help but get the feeling the boy didn't like him for some reason before he turned to last member and offered his hand "I am Hadrian Potter. Pleased to make your acquaintance Heir Goldstein."

The Goldstein heir was noticeably warmer in his greeting and said "Pleasure is all mine Hadrian. It's Antony to you." to which Hadrian gave him a friendly nod.

Once all of his friends introduced themselves, they all started mingling and started talking in groups much to the relief of the adults as they helped themselves to the excellent food cooked by the Black elves. Theo, Daphne and Tracey were busy in discussion on which books they had read and which would help them. 'Looks like Daphne finally found someone other than me to debate with.' Hadrian thought amusedly as he saw the interested gleam in her blue eyes. Draco, Blaise, Rigel, Crabbe and Goyle along with the Carrow twins were discussing quidditch. Well, the five of them were talking while Crabbe and Goyle just listened. He noticed Antony and Ernie were again standing separately where Antony was looking confused while Ernie stood stone faced next to him.

Deciding to find out why they were standing separately, Hadrian walked towards them who noticed his arrival and Hadrian immediately noted Ernie tensing and wondered what this guy's problem was. He schooled his face and asked in a pleasant voice "Ernie, Antony come join us. Why stand here in a separate group?"

"No thank you. We're fine here itself heir Potter." Ernie said, practically spitting the last part while Antony looked nervously as Hadrian's face lost its pleasant expression and became an emotionless mask. Hadrian looked at Ernie blankly and said "All formalities aside, I can't help but notice you seem to have some problem with me heir Macmillan. Considering the fact that I have never seen you till today, that's honestly surprising to me and you have me at a disadvantage with this unknown reason."

Ernie seemed to lose his cool and said angrily "I have never met you but I know your twin Edward Potter all my life. You are a thief who stole the heirship from the rightful heir Edward. He has told me all I need to know about you and none of your polite smiles or words will make me like you."

The room's temperature immediately plummeted as Hadrian's eyes glowed green as he took in the sight of one of his worthless twin's followers accuse him of stealing one of the few things he called his own. He had lost his parents, home and identity due to his brother's fame and now his brother thought the heirship of Potter seat belonged to him as well. The heirship was something that gave him an identity other than the forgotten twin of the Boy Who Lived. 'Well not happening' Hadrian seethed, as he struggled to maintain his mask while Antony looked petrified.

The others noticed the plummet in temperature and noticed Hadrian who was visibly suppressing his anger and immediately moved towards him. Rigel stepped forwards to intervene but Hadrian raised his hand, stopping Rigel in his tracks as others looked on wondering what had caused the normally calm Hadrian to lose his head.

Hadrian stepped forward and looked Ernie straight in the eye. Ernie involuntarily gulped as he noticed the slightly luminous green eyes but stood his ground. Hadrian stared at him for a few moments before he said "You're actually accusing me of stealing that showoff's heirship? Tell me, does your boy wonder think himself to be above the rules of succession? I was born first on the last stroke of clock while he was born on the first stroke of midnight. As for knowing me and liking me, I don't care what foul lies he has fed you and I don't care how good of a follower you are at swallowing them but you stay the hell out of my way. Got it? Be it in school or in the Wizengamot or the next time, I will not be this pleasant."

Ernie finally lost his cool and screamed "I am not his follower. He is my friend and treats me as such. Unlike you, he has manners on how to treat an heir of an Ancient and Noble family. How dare you threaten me? As if I'd want to voluntarily talk to an arrogant ponce like you. Your own parents didn't want you with them and I'd rather be tortured than spend MY time with you and your lot!"

"You seem to have forgotten you are speaking to the Heir Apparent of the Most Ancient and Noble house of Potter, heir Macmillan. Such dreadful manners, shouting like a mudblood. As for my parents, they made their choice and I made mine and I don't need someone of your standing to tell me that." Hadrian said furiously, his occlumency working overtime to control his rage as the sting of his abandonment hit home.

Rigel stepped forward, fury in his voice "How dare you talk about Hadrian's life Macmillan. No one insults my brother in my presence and gets away with it, especially not at a Black property. You have made a very dangerous enemy today and one day house Potter and Black will have revenge, mark my word."

Ernie blanched at that, looking around and noticing the eyes of everyone on his, especially the cold fury in the grey eyes of Baron Black while Baron Potter looked ready to kill him. He gulped and turned around to find the furious gazes of his father that promised him a sound thrashing when they got home yet Ernie held defiant. He was loyal to his childhood friend and he wouldn't be intimidated by the cold glares of the Barons in the room, regardless of the fear that went up his spine when he saw their eyes and certainly not by the green eyes of Hadrian Potter.

"The truth is what it is Black and I mean whatever I said." He sniffed haughtily, carefully ignoring the eyes of the adults of the room. He was in a heap of trouble and he knew it, but he would make it worth the trouble he had undergone. "You better enjoy the heirship while you can Potter. Once we're old enough, Edward will beat you in a duel to claim it and I will laugh at you and your friends face when it is done. You mark MY words Black."

The shadows in the room flickered as if they were agitated and Charlus watched with wide eyes as the shadows thickened and swirled at Hadrian feet who's face looked as if it was made of stone. He looked at the defiant looking Macmillan heir and cursed the idiot boy's foolishness. If Hadrian lost control of his mind, there would be hell and looking at the shadows pooling at his feet, literally.

The shadows rose up his legs and into Hadrian's hand who looked at it with blank curiosity before shrugged and letting it fall down where it flickered in the light and Charlus could make sight of red eyes looking hungrily at the now petrified Macmillan heir.

Ernie, noticing the shadows look at him and watching them as Hadrian casually threw them down, pointed a shaking finger at him and screamed "You're a dark wizard. You are so deep into it that you have control over darkness. Edward was right. You are so jealous of his power you are going into the dark arts to kill him but he will beat you demon!"

"Run to your precious Eddy and stay there. If you cross my path again, then even he cannot save you from my wrath. Annoying shit." Hadrian said calmly, seemingly back to his normal self except for the ice green eyes which promised pain if the boy did cross his path again.

"Lord Macmillan I think it's better if you and your heir leave immediately. I will no longer have him throw vile comments at someone who I consider my own blood under my roof no matter how good of an ally you might make." Arcturus said with a hard edge in his voice to which Lord Macmillan gulped, realizing he hadn't just made an enemy of Potter but Black and possibly Malfoy as well, if the glare on Abraxus Malfoy's face said anything. Promising to punish the idiotic child of his severely for this, he bowed low and groveled "Lords Black and Potter, my house has paid a great insult to yours today and I know there is no words that can be said to heal the damage. I will make sure the lad's behavior is corrected and I will promise that he will not antagonize you heir Potter. I beg of you to forgive this slight against your great houses."

Ernie watched in disbelief as his seemingly strong father groveled in front of these old men and it ignited a fire in him. One day he would make them pay for this slight. No one was even concerned that Hadrian had made death threats on him. In fact, they looked at him as if it was the most natural thing to do, make death threats at a kid who was speaking the truth, albeit rudely. 'Lily Potter was right' Ernie thought dazedly, as he watched his proud father beg for forgiveness from old fools who were past their prime. 'They just want to stay on top and they don't want us half-bloods to surpass them.'

Ernie had a lot to think about.

Afterwards, none of the Lords and Ladies felt like socializing and slowly exited room with their heirs throwing a wary glance at Hadrian who stood still in the same spot as before with a calm expression on his face. Charlus was worried as he knelt before his serene grandson and asked 'Hadrian are you alright? Talk to me son." Hadrian looked at him with the same calm face and said "I'm totally fine grandfather. I get it now. Why I felt so at home with darkness."

Arcturus walked towards them and interrupted before Hadrian could say anything "You're a shadow elimentalist aren't you?" Hadrian gave a simple nod, still looking peaceful which was starting to freak out everyone. The only weakness Hadrian had was his home life and they expected him to be shouting or screaming bloody murder at the Macmillan heir, not looking utterly peaceful.

"When that idiot started spewing his filth, I felt so mad that I wished I had a way to make him pay since I didn't have my wand yet and suddenly I felt a tug at something that felt natural to me, something that I knew existed but consciously never tried to feel it and I made contact with the darkness. The darkness obeys me. In order to shut off my rage, I used the darkness too reinforce my Occlumency barriers. Can't you see? Can't you see my mind shield's strength?" Hadrian asked and indeed everyone could see the differences. There was always a tightness to Hadrian, an unconscious worry that his friends would leave him for his twin like his parents and no matter what they did, it never truly went away. They could not see this tightness around him anymore. He looked calm and at peace with himself. His eyes also had changed. Now they were crystal clear green and sparkled, indicating fully functional mind shields that should be possible for someone his age yet it was there. Overall Hadrian looked better off than ever before and this worried Charlus.

"Are you sure it is wise to allow shadows access to your mind Hadrian? No one knows if this can be done and I don't think this is safe to lock away your emotions like this." Charlus said gently, worried about upsetting the poor boy who looked so peaceful. Hadrian surprised them all by laughing and said "Don't worry grandfather. My mind is still my own. The darkness guards my mind now, strengthening the already present shields. I would have achieved this level later on after years of practicing occlumency. Think of it like a shortcut."

Charlus still looked unconvinced. Hadrian noticed this and said "Tell you what. Let's have grandfather Arcturus here test my shields using legilimency. He has knowledge on the mind and he can assure you if this is normal or not. Can you help me grandfather?" he asked Arcturus who looked Charlus and got a single nod.

Arcturus who was very proficient in mind magic looked Hadrian in the eye and without a wand uttered "Legillimens."

Hadrian felt the tell tale sign of a foreign presence entering his mind but did not fight against him as he observed his grandfather look at his shields impressed. It last for a second before Arcturus drew back and congratulated him "Impressive Hadrian. While your mindscape is still at level 1 and underdeveloped, your shields are at max level 7. It is exactly as you said. Your mind is untouched but your walls are the strongest anyone could have."

"Oh it will be even stronger grandfather. I can improve them to go above the documented level 7." Hadrian said confidently, stunning the usually calm man. Occlumency came in 7 levels with 1 being a beginner and 7, an expert and 'here's this lad who says he can go higher' Arcturus thought dazedly. He himself was at level 7 and he couldn't wait to observe his progress and he was sure his sister Cassiopeia also would be very interested in this as well.

"That will be something to watch but I don't want you to try this alone Hadrian. Your mind is misaligned now with your mindscape and defenses at different levels and it will be very irresponsible of you if you practice alone without a legilimens near you. Rest assured no mortal can get inside your mind now and withhold training till future okay?" Arcturus asked firmly and it was a testament of the respect and love Hadrian had for Arcturus that he accepted, much to the surprise of Charlus who knew Hadrian took orders from no one except his family.

"Grandfather why did you invite that tosser and his family to this gathering? Insulting us under our roof. Are they our allies?" Rigel asked hotly, while Walburga clicked her tongue at his language but did not comment upon it, quietly agreeing with her grandson. Arcturus looked smug for a second before he said simply "To let them know we're coming of course. Lord Macmillan is many things but an actor and a good occlumens is not among them. He was sent to me by our enemies to infiltrate this meeting and get to know what our objectives are."

"WHAT?"

"Oh you heard me." Arcturus said with relish. "He had decent occlumency walls of course but certainly not something that could keep me out. I plucked it right out of his mind at first meeting itself."

Hadrian snorted, the amount of people who could keep Arcturus Black outside their heads could be counted on his hands and he wouldn't need his left hand to do so. Rigel asked impatiently "But why? This is just a little pureblood gathering for children about to start education. Unless our enemies are that desperate and want to know what pranks we'd play, I don't think there was much to gain here." He finished sarcastically.

Arcturus lips twitched upwards before he became serious "This meeting was not the target but the members were. They wanted to know whom we trusted explicitly and considered like-minded allies. Too bad I did not invite our true allies and just the known sympathizers of blood purity along with business partners like Greengrasses. They did not learn anything I assure you. He honestly expected me to forget that he and James were childhood friends and their children are friends as well and invite him to high profile meetings when he came talking to me on how worried he was about our society and wanted to do something about it."

"Was that the reason why aunt Bella and the twins were absent?" Hadrian asked suddenly, suddenly clicking into place. Wizarding children did not become ill easily and considering the twins who were magically powerful, it was almost impossible.

Arcturus looked at him proudly and said "Well done Hadrian. That is exactly why they were not here. They are already accused of supporting the Dark Lord, they did not need this additional heat on them. I asked Bella and her husband not to attend and while Bella certainly wasn't happy, she reluctantly agreed though she has sworn retribution on the Macmillan family for ruining her darling daughter's introduction ceremony. I also asked them to send their ally the Carrow family to make sure that Macmillan doesn't get suspicious. The Carrows were only too happy to help and now Dumbledore will get a new name to his list of enemies and will consider this a win when it certainly is not."

"No wonder aunt Bella was furious." Draco mumbled.

"Wow so cool! So our true allies are safe right?" Rigel exclaimed. Arcturus nodded and said "Yes our true allies are safe. Since the Macmillan brat will not be attending, I think I will go and floo Bella now. She can send her daughters here tomorrow and also tell her the plan was a grand success."

"But they did get to know a little Lord Black. While your speech was inspiring, it did say you are firmly against the muggleborns gaining power over us and that you will continue to fight them. Lord Macmillan's infiltration might have a little success." Daphne said in a respectful tone which earned her an approving nod from Arcturus.

"You've got a sharp head on your shoulders Miss Greengrass but rest assured they have learnt nothing new. I have always fought against them gaining power over us publically and they will just believe I am just imparting my blood purist views onto the new generation of children whose parents are known supporters of mine. The infiltration was almost a waste of time for them since they learnt of nothing new except the fact that the Carrows support us which was already suspected. Our true allies are still working to destroy them from the shadows. The mishap his heir has caused gives us an opportunity to reject teaching his heir which will allow you to learn without the brat reporting everything to his daddy. My little operation is a success and our goals are still unclear to them."

"What exactly is our goal?" Draco asked skeptically.

Arcturus, Charlus and Abraxus shared a smile before Abraxus replied "To send the mudblood lovers away from our world forever."

Author's notes: Hey everyone. Yes the fic is still alive and kicking and I can promise you another chapter by next month before it goes back to being uncertain. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and review.


	4. Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Chapter 4

" _SPELLS_ "

Lessons began in earnest the next day when their teacher Mr. Silversky arrived in the Black Townhouse. Jason Silversky was a man who had multiple masteries in magic and was one of the most sought out tutor in Britain. He would teach the theory behind transfiguration, charms, potions, defense against the dark arts and history starting from Monday till Friday. He would teach the theory in the morning for four hours from nine to one and would leave them to practice the spells in the afternoons in the privacy of their manors since it was illegal for anyone to own a wand before they received their Hogwarts letter and he did not want to risk his reputation. Afternoons found Hadrian, Rigel and Draco performing the spells they learnt in the morning under the watchful eyes of their grandparents in their manors. They decided to spend one afternoon each in their respective manors so that they could practice and help each other out. Bellatrix Lestrange's twin daughters, Virgo and Cassiopeia joined them since the Macmillan heir was no longer there to spy upon them.

Saturdays was usually dedicated to family magic and history for two hours. Afterwards, they had Business and Politics with Abraxus Malfoy who was an amazing businessman. While Rigel and Hadrian learnt and understood enough politics to survive the Wizengamot in the future, Draco excelled in these lessons. He had a shrewd mind and could spot opportunities that Hadrian and Rigel overlooked in the case study scenarios that was presented by Abraxus as lessons and had a rare foresight to accurately predict the consequences of his actions in the future which made his grandfather immensely proud as he had the makings of a ruthless and cunning Lord and businessman. Rigel and Draco had Saturday afternoons off but Hadrian spent this time with Arcturus Black working on his shadow magic. The Black had a few shadow Elementalists in their family tree and Arcturus visited the Black Family Vault to procure some books on the subject which Hadrian read under his watchful eyes of Charlus and Arcturus as they discussed business. After a few hours of theory, he was allowed to call upon the shadows and discover his powers over them. So far Hadrian could feel the shadows and converse with them but when he could fully tap into his powers when he was older, he could transport himself through the shadows bypassing any wards and command shadows to attack which made Hadrian very determined to master this rare art.

Evenings once he was done with the shadow magic, Arcturus taught the three boys Occlumency and the art of controlling expressions. According to Arcturus, Occlumency not only gave the user mental defense but also gave them the ability to have full control over their expressions and feelings. Using Occlumency, one could wear a blank mask which hid all emotions from their rivals and even dull pain to an extent. These sessions usually took place in a room that was dimly lit and exotic candles burnt to give off relaxing fumes to which the boys meditated and practiced the mind arts. While Draco and Rigel had the hard task of building their defenses from scratch, Hadrian was constructing his mindscape and organizing his memories since his walls were enhanced by the shadows. The three boys made good progress everyday and Arcturus gave them strict instructions to clear their mind and categorize their day's memories before going to sleep.

Sunday mornings was spent to review whatever they had studied in the previous week, both text and wand and they prepared for their next week's lessons. Afternoon was spent learning swordsmanship from Charlus who was talented with a blade. He would show them the combination of sword attacks and allow them to practice with their family blades until it became muscle memory to them. Then he would pair them up and allow them to duel with wooden swords to improve their reflexes and coordination.

In the beginning, all three of them had trouble practicing and moving around with their swords and armor since they were not used to such strenuous physical activities until Charlus ordered them to wake up early and start working out, to improve their stamina and strength. The boys would complain and floo to Potter Manor every morning to work on their muscles every morning but when they noticed their spells coming out stronger and faster along with tighter looking robes, they soon began to enjoy it much to the amusement of their grandfathers.

While the workload was very heavy and their tutors expected nothing but perfection, the heirs did not complain. They had a huge responsibility and they were determined to prove themselves to their families and themselves. It was not all work since every alternate Saturdays, there would have quidditch matches in the Malfoy Manor pitch along with exhibition duels to showcase what they had learnt.

The year soon passed by with all of them preoccupied by their busy schedules and soon it was time for Hadrian's eleventh birthday. They had a big party in Potter Manor which was attended by all of his friends. His parents were noticeably absent as they were off celebrating the birthday of the 'Boy who Lived' in the newely dubbed 'Potter Mansion' which was a national event attended by everyone of influence but Hadrian did not care. His parents were absent from most of his life and sometimes he forgot Charlus and Dorea were his grandparents and not as his parents as they filled the void in life perfectly. They always took the opportunity to spoil him rotten but also were strict in certain matters and he was very thankful to them for being there for him.

On his birthday, he had received a custom made runic armor from his grandfather that was very light and was made for his build. The runes etched would provide him comfort and mobility which he loved. Charlus also made two more for Rigel and Draco which they were very thankful for. The Black family members, including his grandmother got together and gave him a hip dagger straight from the Black Vault. It was certainly priceless, with the large black diamond hilt and ornate sheath. The dagger itself was made from blackened steel and was supposed to be used as a last resort defense. Hadrian thanked them repeatedly and promised to wear it every day which pleased Arcturus immensely. Rigel's parents, Sirius and Marlene were at his twin's party. Rigel apologized for their absence which Hadrian waved off. He had his friends and that was enough for the Potter heir.

The Malfoys who knew Hadrian had a fondness for watches, got him a custom made timepiece with dark emeralds in the clock and platinum hands. The watch had a variety of charms including an unbreakable charm, scratch resistant charm and a feather light charm. Hadrian immediately removed the watch he was wearing, a priceless white gold Potter family heirloom and wore his new watch gleefully which made Lucius smile and Narcissa squeal with happiness. Hadrian ignored Draco's eye roll when Narcissa hugged him.

He received books, clothes and chocolates from his other friends which he was very thankful for. Overall, it was the best birthday he had with his friends and he did not notice his parents absence at all.

The next day, the Daily Prophet published a front page article about the national gala that was the Edward Potter's birthday. The article showed James and Lily Potter standing proudly behind the spectacled 'Boy who Lived' who grinned at the six tier cake in front of him. The article also bragged about the priceless gifts he had received amongst which the most loved one was the Gringotts vault, with a million galleon balance gifted by his parents. Hadrian, who lived in Potter Manor had absolutely no contact with his parents or his twin was surprised at the news. He had got a vault with the same amount on his previous birthday itself, courtesy of his grandfather.

"Didn't you get access to the heir vault ages ago?" Draco yawned. Hadrian nodded amused. "Looks like mommy and daddy finally believe their little Eddy is all grown up. I'll bet the little superstar would use his new fortune to secretly buy his signed photographs just to increase sales."

Rigel laughed and they soon made their way to the Black Townhouse for their lessons. Today would be the last day of their tutoring and they were excited to finish it off on a high note. All three boys were eleven now, Rigel who had celebrated his birthday in May and Draco in June, and were anxiously waiting for their Hogwarts letter which was supposed to come anytime. They would use everything they had learnt in the past year to outshine the others in school and bring honor to their families. They would also prank the living hell of Hogwarts Rigel reminded them whenever the subject came up.

They made their way to the classroom where they had learnt the first year syllabus completely and halfway to the second. They had practiced the spells to perfection and were expected to hold nothing back. They were also expected to continue reading ahead to stay ahead.

Professor Silversky was waiting for them. Once everyone had taken their seats, he began "Greetings class. Today is the last day of your classes and I want to say I am extremely proud of you. You have given it your all and have excelled in everything you have been taught. I have no doubt you all will be there in the top rankings of this year and hopefully every year until you graduate. It has been a pleasure teaching you young lords and ladies."

There was a round of applause for his words and Hadrian and Daphne even shared a hi-five much to the amusement of others. Professor Silversky laughed and said "Now, it's my tradition to have a little mock duel on the final day whenever I am invited to teach and with the permission of your parents, this year is no different. Let me pair you up now and remember no harmful spells. You are with friends just showing whatever you have learnt this year. Let me now introduce our gracious host, Lord Arcturus Black!"

Rigel rubbed his hands gleefully as his grandfather and grandmother, accompanied by his parents walked inside the room. Behind him, Lord and Lady Potter, along with Lord Malfoy and his son and daughter in-law, Lucius and Narcissa were also present along with the parents of the rest of the heirs. 'This is going to be fun.' Rigel thought.

The elders conjured chairs and sat patiently as Professor Silversky randomly paired them to fight. Draco was against Tracey. Blaise was against Daphne who smirked at him, making him go pale. The Carrow twins would be fighting each other much to their shock. Virgo would fight Theo while Cassiopeia would be against Vincent. Rigel and Hadrian would be against each other and they both shared a grin. Greg, who was the odd one would be fighting against the professor himself much to his terror.

Arcturus Black stepped forward, wishing everyone luck before waving his wand and conjuring a dueling platform with the Black family coat of arms in the centre. Charlus helped his brother in-law to cast protection spells on the platform to strengthen it against damage and cast wards around the dueling area to prevent stray spells from hitting on looking spectators.

The duels began in earnest starting with Draco and Tracey. After bowing and walking back the eleven steps, they turned and began firing spells at each other. Tracey gave a good fight, throwing some minor hexes, disarming jinxes and even a stunning spell much to the surprise of the elders but Draco was simply better than her, due to his better physique and practice as he dodged the minor hexes and raised a solid protego shield which did not even budge under Tracey's spells. Tracey's shock was her undoing as Draco threw a quick disarming jinx which blew her wand to Draco's waiting hands. Once he returned the wand with a handshake on a good fight, the next fight began. Blaise vs Daphne.

The fight started with Blaise going quickly on the offensive, intending to overwhelm Daphne. He threw a variety of spells in a basic chain which impressed everyone. No doubt the practice he had undergone, Blaise smirked in anticipation as the spells ricocheted towards the blonde girl. Daphne drew a shape in air with her wand and suddenly all the spells splashed against a transparent shield much to everyone's surprise. Daphne smirked at Blaise's shock and retaliated with some harmless jinxes accurately hitting Blaise's hair, turning it purple and giving him bad breath. Blaise was confused since none of the spells could win her the duel when suddenly Daphne's stance changed and she threw a tripping charm at an unprepared who fell face first into the stage. Daphne immediately cried " _STUPEFY"_ and the red beam hit Blaise, knocking him unconscious.

"Amazing" Hadrian breathed as an amused Daphne renavated Blaise as he scowled, while rubbing his face where he had fallen. Rigel noticed this and smirked "Stop drooling at her Hadrian."

Hadrian flushed and said "Shut up! I'm not drooling. It was an amazing tactic to make Blaise unprepared for her real attack. Very well done."

"Yeah, he's drooling all right." Draco grinned at Rigel and Hadrian blushed as a sullen Blaise and smirking Daphne came towards them. Quickly clearing his embarrassment, he offered a hand to a smug Daphne who took it "An amazing fight miss Greengrass."

"Why thank you heir Potter." Daphne said coyly, as she shook his hand. "I'm expected a better show from you both." She added, looking at Rigel who smirked in anticipation. "Oh don't worry Miss Greengrass, our fight will be legendary eh Hadrian?" to which Hadrian grinned.

"Oyy, is no one going to ask me how my face feels? Damn it Daphne, couldn't you cast a cushioning charm on the ground before you tripped me?" Blaise whined, looking at an unimpressed Daphne who simply flipped her blond hair back. Draco jeered "You deserve it for underestimating her you ponce."

"By the way, what did you draw in the air Daphne? The shield did not even budge under the spells?" Hadrian asked. Everyone looked at the smiling blond girl who answered "Oh that's obvious of course. I used runes. I drew a shield rune to stop his spells. Much better than wasting magic on a protego shield if you ask me."

"Combat runes, impressive." Hadrian grinned at a now blushing Daphne. Rigel grinned and was about to comment when their attention was drawn to the furious fight between the Carrow twins. They both knew each other so well that they were able to predict what they would cast next and shield accordingly. Finally they both threw a stunner at each other that connected, knocking them both out resulting in a tie.

The fight between Virgo and Theo was strongly one sided as poor Theo was forced on the defensive by the barrage of spells from the Lestrange twin hammered on the protego shield. Finally Theo's shield broke and was hit with a disarming jinx thus declaring Virgo as the winner.

"Good one V!" Hadrian hi-fived the smirking girl who he was very close to. While the Lestrange twins often did not visit Potter Manor, the girls were very close to the boys and Hadrian in particular. Initially they had been wary of him, due to his arrogant twin's reputation but soon got to be good friends with him due to his friendliness and eagerness to make friends. Virgo said "Sorry Theo, it's all fun right?" offering a hand to the boy she had beaten who shook his head amusedly and said "Next time I'll win Lestrange." Virgo simply smirked at his challenge

Cassiopeia or Cassie as she demanded to be called, demolished Vincent for whom Hadrian felt bad for. The Crabbe heir was a natural in astronomy and physical intimidation and was not suited for magical duels, especially against someone like Cassiopeia Lestrange. Cassie yawned and hi-fived her cousins and Hadrian while offering a nod to Vincent who nodded back. There were no hard feelings.

Finally, it was the duel between Hadrian and Rigel. Best friends, cousins and practically brothers. They both rose to the applause of the crowd who were anticipating a good fight between the Potter and Black heir. Hadrian, who was studying magic since he was a small child against Rigel who had all of the talent and power of the Black Family. It would be a thriller to watch.

They both looked at each other and bowed. "Don't go easy on me okay Hadrian? Remember Daphne is watching so I'll go easy on you." Rigel grinned. Hadrian went red and grinned back "I'll wipe the floor with you for that Black." Rigel just laughed and they both took the necessary steps back before waiting for the duel to start. Professor Silversky shot green sparks and the duel was underway.

Rigel immediately cast " _RICTUSEMPRA_ " sending a tickling charm at Hadrian who side stepped it and retaliated with " _EXPELLIARMUS_ " which Rigel shielded against. Both smirked, testing each other's reactions and movements before the real fight started. Hadrian drew his magic and began casting " _EXPELLIARMUS_ " " _REDUCTO_ " " _IMPEDIMENTA_ " " _LUMOS MAXIMA_ " " _STUPEFY_ ".

Rigel's eyes widened as Hadrian started his spell chain he had formed during their breaks and knew it wouldn't be easy to break this considering Hadrian's power and accuracy and took a deep breath as he struggled to stay alive in this duel. He dodged the disarming jinx and muttered " _PROTEGO_ "which absorbed the reductor curse and the impediment jinx but the shield could not stop the lumos maxima and he was temporarily blinded. He blindly threw himself to the ground, barely missing the stunning spell that sailed over his head. He muttered a spell that cleared the spots in his eyes and cast an overpowered _NOX_ , putting out Hadrian's lumos in the process.

He rolled over to another side and immediately got up as an _EXPELLIARMUS_ splashed at the spot he was lying on and mindful of the audience including his grandfather whom he wanted to impress began his own spell chain " _BOMBARDA_ " " _REDUCTO_ " " _STUPEFY_ " " _STUPEFY_ " " _DIFFINDO_ " " _EXPELLIARMUS_ " " _LEVICORPUS_ " " _STUPEFY_!" The last stunner was aimed above to hit Hadrian if the levicorpus jinx hit him.

Hadrian slased his wand diagonally and brought in an upward flick and cried " _SCTUEM IMMORTALEM_ " and a bright bronze shield materialized in front of him and to Rigel's surprise, his blasting curses hammered against the shield with a loud gong like noise and was cancelled out immediately. Rigel looked shocked as his other spells didn't even break through Hadrian's shield. He had expected Hadrian to use a protego which would have broken after the barrage of the blasting curses and while he did not expect all spells to hit, he had hoped to nail him with at least one but Hadrian's new shield completely destroyed his spell chain.

Hadrian smirked at the wide eyed look on Rigel's face as he cancelled out his immortal shield which could basically stop any jinx and some curses without any problems and shouted " _RICTUSEMPRA_ " " _CONFRINGO_ " " _EXPELLIARMUS_ " " _STUPEFY_ " " _BOMBARDA_ " " _STUPEFY_ " hoping to end the duel.

Rigel knew he had no choice but to use some advanced magic as he shouted " _AEGIS_!" The Atlas Shield materialized in front of him and he took a moment to catch his breath as Hadrian's powerful spells hammered away at the shield. He did not miss the look of surprise on Hadrian's face and he knew he could not waste this moment as he cancelled out the shield and muttered " _FLIPENDO_ " " _STUPEFY_ " " _STUPEFY_ " and the knockback jinx along with two stunners rocketed towards a surprised Hadrian who was in the middle of his chain.

Hadrian knew he had no time to draw up a shield and hastily flicked his wand upwards and to everyone's astonishment, the stage was ripped in front of Hadrian's feet and rose upwards to block the knockback jinx and the stunners. The jinx blasted the wooden stage to pieces and a few tiny shrapnel tore into his face and Hadrian immediately shouted " _DEPULSO_!" banishing the wooden slats towards Rigel.

Rigel who was sure of his victory as he had caught Hadrian off-guard, was once again surprised as the wooden wreckage of the stage was banished at him. He hastily transfigured the few pieces that was heading for his head into paper but could not stop a few heavy pieces hitting his leg and he rolled to the right putting weight on his now injured leg as Hadrian sent two stunners hoping to catch him off-guard.

Rigel was desperate to end the duel and hissed in pain as he got up and put weight on his leg. He could also feel his breath coming out labored as he could feel his magical core depleting. His earlier spell chain and the Atlas shield had taken a lot out of his reserves and as he looked at Hadrian who looked slightly fatigued, he knew that he could not continue like this.

Rigel shouted " _SERPENSORTIA_!" and a venomous green viper appeared in front of Hadrian and hissed furiously as it was summoned away from its home. It began to angrily advance on Hadrian who muttered " _EVANESCO_ " vanishing the hissing reptile. Rigel who was hoping for the snake to distract Hadrian for a while where could catch his breath looked on with despair and had no choice but to raise the Atlas shield again as Hadrian responded with another chain, this time all blasting curses to destroy the shield. Thankfully the shield held and Rigel knew he had just enough magic for one last trick. He prayed this last resort worked because if this failed, he knew he did not have enough energy to summon a protego let alone an atlas shield.

He dropped his atlas shield and with the last of his magic shouted " _AZKAVIKE_!" This was the darker version of the concussion curse, a Black creation that he had learnt from his grandfather. It would create a concussion like the standard curse but the effects were prolonged in the improved version and the best thing was it could not blocked by a shield. Rigel staggered as he saw the curse sailing towards and hoped for a victory.

Hadrian watched wide eyed as the steel grey curse came straight for his head and for some reason, he knew could not shield against it. Knowing Rigel, Hadrian was sure his best friend would not have used the last of his magic to send a curse that could be shielded by his immortal shield. Now panicking, he hastily shouted " _SERPENSORTIA_!" and he knew he had made the right choice as the summoned snake was blasted into the wall where it fell down limp but alive.

Hadrian was desperate for a win as he could feel himself getting tired and knew he had to capitalize on this as he shouted " _INCENDIO_ " " _INCENDIO_ " " _VENTUS_ " " _STUPEFY_ " Rigel, who could barely stand was once shocked as Hadrian escaped the concussion curse. 'The bugger just knows me too well I suppose.' Rigel thought amusedly as he used the last embers of his magic to conjure water which met the flames head on and hissed as steam was formed. Rigel immediately knew he had walked into a trap as the ventus charm blew the steam straight in front of him and thus he could not stop the stunner hitting him even if he could.

'Well at least I was knocked out than disarmed.' was Rigel's last thought as the blackness claimed him at last. Hadrian was breathing heavily and he knew he had to end it quickly as he was running out of ideas. He had then decided to use his latest spell chain which he dubbed the 'hot chain' and was surprised to see the stunner finally bringing down the Black heir. He waited for a second to see if Rigel would move again but when he didn't he waved his wand and cleared the steam. He walked forward and muttered " _RENNERVATE_."

Rigel immediately opened his eyes and groaned as the exhaustion and the pain in his leg caught up with him but accepted the hand offered by Hadrian as he was pulled to his feet and slung his hands around Hadrian's shoulders and winced "Man, you beat the hell out of me Hadrian. Great fight bro!"

Hadrian grinned and said "You almost got me with the concussion curse. If I hadn't known you wouldn't have wasted your magic on a last spell that could be shielded, I would used my immortal shield again. An excellent fight Rigel."

"What was that shield by the way? It didn't even buck under my chain. You gotta teach me that man!" Rigel exclaimed and Hadrian said "Sure, it's called shield of immortals and short of unforgivable, you can stop anything provided you have enough power to put behind it. In return you have to teach me the Atlas shield!"

Rigel grinned "Deal!"

"Deal!"

The two boys then looked around them and silence greeted them as the Lords and Ladies were simply shocked at the display of magic exhibited by the eleven year old heirs. Arcturus Black stood up and started clapping and everyone in the room got up and gave them a standing ovation. The two boys grinned at each other and hands still around each other's shoulders, they gave a bow to the lords and ladies and turned around to bow to their friends who were awestruck.

"If that wasn't good enough to impress your Daphne, I don't know what is Hadrian." Rigel whispered and Hadrian murmured "Shut up! She's not my Daphne." his face red.

Arcturus Black came forward and boomed "My boys! You have exceeding every single expectation I had placed on you. Simply a mind blowing exhibition considering that you boys have not even begun school yet! Rigel, Hadrian, I have no doubt you both will bring honor to our houses. Mark my words."

Both boys blushed at the rare praise from Arcturus and simply nodded to him. Sirius came forward and exclaimed "I'm damn proud of you pup!" to a grinning Rigel and his mother Marlene Black nee McKinnon swept him into a hug, much to his embarrassment. "Mum, you can't hug me in public like this." Rigel's muffled voice said, much to amusement of his father and others present.

"Oh hush Rigel, after that duel, I'm allowed to hug my son who I'm proud of." Marlene said, pulling her only son into her embrace which she knew he secretly liked. She looked at the green eyed boy in front of her and said "A worthy victory dear. Well fought." Hadrian smiled and nodded and Marlene felt her heart go for the boy. While she was friends with both James and Lily, she was disgusted at the level they had fallen, ignoring their own son and favoring that arrogant other twin whom she was not at all fond of. She decided to narrate this experience to them just to spite them and let them know how powerful their son was. She had no doubt Hadrian could easily beat the pampered boy who lived with little difficult.

Narcissa meanwhile rushed forward and pulled Hadrian into a hug which he heartily returned. Narcissa was one of the few people Hadrian allowed to touch him and the blond woman took advantage of it many times to pull the cute adorable boy who deserved all the affection in world to a hug. "Well fought Hadrian. A truly spectacular duel boys."

"Let him breathe Cissa. A good match Hadrian, Rigel. Your magical prowess is something that will shock many in the near future. Keep up the good work."

"Thanks Uncle Lucius!" they chimed together.

"Mother, your son dueled first and beat his opponent yet you're all over Hadrian again. Might I remind you that your son needs some comfort as well?" came the drawling voice of Draco Malfoy who was followed by his highly amused friends. Narcissa laughed and pulled both boys into a hug while Lucius sighed. He had no idea where his only son got the flair for dramatics from.

After Hadrian was released from Narcissa's embrace, Charlus put a shoulder on Hadrian's shoulder, smiled and said simply "You've made me proud, my son." That meant more to Hadrian than anything. After a hug from his grandmother who gushed at his amazing performance and healed the cuts on his face, he made his way over to where Rigel was being fussed over by mother who was healing his injured leg.

"Mate, that was something else." Theo complemented him which Hadrian accepted graciously. The Carrow twins gave him shy nods which he returned. Hadrian laughed as Virgo and Cassiopeia jumped on him and due to his regular exercise, he was able to keep standing as the girls hugged him. Bella simply pulled the adorable boy into a hug and said simply "Well done." Hadrian knew that complement wasn't earned easily.

Draco and Blaise slapped him on the back and said "Not bad Potter. You put up quite a good show. I'm impressed man."

"I'm glad I have your approval Blaise." Hadrian said dryly as Draco began laughing. Blaise simply shrugged and grinned which made Hadrian grin back. He was very thankful for having such good friends.

Finally Daphne made her way over to him and Blaise and Draco discretely moved away. Daphne had a smile on her face as Hadrian cheekily asked "Was my lady suitably entertained?"

"You sure how to put up a good show my lord. Well fought and consider me impressed." Daphne said softly which made Hadrian's heart soar. Daphne was the only girl who made me feel like this and made him shy and lose his confidence. Daphne and he continued to talk about the various spells they had used, totally ignoring the others and missing Draco's and Rigel's taunting smirks and Tracey's knowing smile.

Once Rigel's leg was healed and gotten a pepper up potion, everyone made way to their seats and sat down. The duel between Greg and Professor Silversky was cancelled since Greg begged him to cancel it and the professor feeling bad for the physically strong boy agreed. Professor Silversky made a few comments about the duel and formally took his leave, to the roaring applause of his students and their parents. The Carrow twins, Theo, Vince , Tracey, Greg and Blaise began leaving, promising to meet on the Hogwarts Express.

After everyone had gone, Arcturus said "Well that went good. I know for a fact that tomorrow you will be getting your Hogwarts letters and we can start getting your necessities tomorrow itself." Hadrian was excited to hear this. Finally, it was time to go to Hogwarts.

"Hadrian, Draco, me and your grandfathers have a meeting tomorrow so we will not be joining you. Lucius and Narcissa, along with Bella and Rudolphous will take you all to Diagon Ally tomorrow. Floo over to Malfoy Manor at eleven tomorrow. Miss Greengrass, you are welcome to join them as well."

"Thank you my lord. Myself and my parents will meet your group in Leaky Cauldron tomorrow morning." Daphne bowed her head in respect.

The group soon began to disperse and floo to their respective Manors. Charlus, Dorea and Hadrian flooed over to Potter Manor where Hadrian collapsed on a couch "Man, I'm tired."

"After a duel like that, I'm not surprised. Even with you reading ahead, I could see Rigel was not easy to beat." Dorea stated and Hadrian nodded enthusiastically "Not even close to easy. We both were firstly restricted with the spells we could cast since we didn't want to hurt each other and the pace was intense. We were both using third year and above spells. It was frankly tiring. If Rigel hadn't gone down to that stunner, I was running out of ideas."

"But still you prevailed. Good job." Charlus smiled, stroking his head. Hadrian sighed happily and simply relaxed. Dorea stood up and said in a strict voice "Now young man, you go up and have a bath. After eating your food, straight to bed you hear? You've got a big day tomorrow."

"Yes mother" Hadrian said fondly, rolling his eyes much to his grandfather's amusement as he went to carry out his grandmother's orders. She was right. Tomorrow was going to be grand.

Author's Note: Hey guys, enjoy another chapter. I had planned to include the letter and the shopping in this chapter itself but it would be waaaay too long and I don't like writing long chapters. That was the first fight scene I've ever written so go easy on me with the reviews. All constructive criticism accepted and I hope you liked this chapter. The spells here are all taken from PotterMore and some I made up. It was the best part of writing this book.

Cheers

Rayuga

Word count: 5563.


	5. Chapter 5

7DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Chapter 4

The next day saw a flurry of excitement in many households as an army of owls delivered a dream to every eleven year old magical child, their Hogwarts letter which they had been dreaming of attending as soon as they could understand the stories of their siblings, parents or their family members and it was a very important milestone for the child, signaling that they had attained enough magical maturity to begin their formal schooling. Parents watched with pride as their little one received an invitation to study at the most famous school in Europe, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some would of course reject it opting to study at either Drumstrang Institute or Beauxbatons Institute of Magic but most had already made up their minds to attend. Pureblood or mundane, the excitement was palpable in every household.

It was no different in Potter Mansion. Edward Potter, who seated on his high seat having a big breakfast of eggs, bacon and milk shrieked, as he spotted an owl flying towards and dropped a heavy parchment envelope into his lap, spraying milk and half chewed food all over the table. The happy parents, Lily and James did not even bother to reprimand their precious son as they believed all children to be messy eaters at the eleven and began congratulating the boy making him puff in pride. The parents of the Savior hurriedly began cleaning the mess and immediately sought to get ready since the press would arrive soon. 'The Savior going to school is surely headlines material. With Eddy starting school, we can start on the school series merchandise. My son is all grown up.' James thought gleefully as he cleared the disgusting mess on the table as Lily ushered their son to get dressed. Not once did the proud parents even remember their other son.

The said other son, was hardly bothered about the arrival of the letter which was delivered by a brown owl. He gave one glance at the standard yellow parchment before focusing his attention back to his breakfast which he cut and chewed with a grace of a Lord. His grandparents watched amused as Hadrian barely glanced at the letter before Dorea asked "Excited are we?"

Hadrian swallowed before shrugging "I know it's supposed to be magical and all but seriously, I knew I was going to get the letter since I was five. The excitement is only for the shopping part."

Charlus ruffled his hair fondly and said "Either ways congratulations on getting in. Now I have a few instructions for you on your shopping trip. As informed yesterday, today is a Wizengamot meeting and we the old people will not be able to make it so you will going with Lucius and Narcissa along with Bellatrix and her husband, got it?" Hadrian gave a simple nod.

"I don't want you to use your trust fund for this. Here" Charlus handed him a large ornate golden key with a P engraved on it. "This is the Potter family vault. As the primary heir, you have all the rights to use the money inside. I want you to get the best materials alright? You will be representing the House of Potter so only the best yes?"

"Yes grandfather."

"Stick close to the others and have a great time son. Entering Diagon Ally for the first time as a student is a magical feeling and I want you to enjoy Hadrian but stay safe alright?" Hadrian responded simply by hugging his grandfather who chuckled and ruffled his hair "Good lad. Now go get dressed and you can floo over to the Blacks. I'll see you in the evening."

Hadrian got up and gracefully made his way upstairs, well aware of the proud expressions on his grandparents faces which made his heart swell with joy. He took his time to decide his outfit since he was representing House Potter to the public for the first time and he knew the importance of the first impressions.

He selected a dark green shirt with small diamond studded buttons and light cream pants which fit him perfectly since it was tailored for him. He chose a sleek black open dragonhide cloak to complete his attire followed by shiny black shoes. He also wore his heir ring on his right middle finger and his black diamond watch which a gift from the Malfoys. Overall, he admitted he cut a very good looking figure as he looked at the thankfully non-magical mirror with his tall stature and lean muscles. He combed his jet black hair back in traditional way, making his glowing green eyes stand out.

As he made his way down, his grandmother squealed and hugged him. "My little man is all grown up. Look at you! You look so very handsome!"

Hadrian blushed and hugged her back "Thank you grandma. Are you sure you don't want to come with us?"

Dorea stroked his hair back before giving him a smile "I'm sure my dear. We ladies have decided to get together for a small meeting and the Malfoys have promised to take care of you. You have fun and be safe alright? I don't want to hear anything about you Rigel and Draco sneaking off somewhere am I clear young man?" her stern expression in the end did not last long as a smile broke through looking at Hadrian's too innocent expression.

"You might also run into your parents today Hadrian. Being the glory hogs they are, I am certain they will be there to strut around like peacock showing off the Savior Will you be alright?" Dorea asked concernedly and was rewarded with an eye roll from Hadrian "Relax grandmother. James and Lily stopped being my parents ages ago. That title goes for you and grandfather only. I'll be fine."

"I can't help but worry. That's my job Hadrian. Now off you go. Have a good time!"

"I will! I will give the Savior your love." Hadrian said with a devious expression as he ran to the floo.

"Hadrian, don't you dare…" Dorea shouted but it was too late as Hadrian vanished with a whoosh into the green flames.

Dorea sighed "Who am I kidding? I knew that was going to happen."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hadrian appeared in the fireplace of the Black Townhouse and stepped out to greet a bored looking Rigel who immediately brightened up when he saw him. Hadrian stepped out of the fireplace gracefully before shaking hands with his best friend "Waiting for long?"

"Yeah! It's been like two minutes. Couldn't you get here faster?" Rigel whined and Hadrian rolled his eyes. "It's exactly 11 you dolt. It would have been rude if I was earlier."

"Right you are Hadrian. Honestly Rigel, do you pay even a bit of attention in etiquette classes?" Came the resigned voice of his mother, Marlene Black as she looked at her unabashed son. She offered a smile to Hadrian and said "It's good to see someone paying attention to etiquettes dear. Are you ready to go?"

Hadrian bowed "Ready to leave Mrs Black."

Marlene rolled her eyes and asked exasperated "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Mrs Black and started calling me Marlene Hadrian?"

"At least once more Lady Black." Hadrian replied with a cheeky smile.

Rigel rolled his eyes as Hadrian charmed his mother and said "Enough talk. Let's leave!"

Marlene looked up at the roof as if praying for patience and said "Rigel, how many times do I have to repeat myself? You will leave as soon as the rest of them get here."

"But I've been waiting for this day for ages!" Rigel whined.

Hadrian hid a smile as he watched mother and son bicker waiting for the others to arrive. If not for the love he received from his grandparents, he would have been jealous of the love between Rigel and his mother. 'If I even had met Rigel. Who knows what would have happened to me if not for grandfather and grandmother' Hadrian thought, a shudder running down his spine.

The fireplace roared and the Malfoy family stepped out looking ready to impress with their silver blonde hair, self-assured smirks and clothes that probably cost a small fortune.

After the necessary greetings, everyone was all set to leave. Narcissa informed them that Bellatrix and her family would join them in the Leaky Cauldron itself rather than floo over twice. "Oh and the Greengrasses won't be making it today. Some family emergency they said."

Rigel volunteered to go first, all but dragging Hadrian and Draco with him, much to the disapproval of the elders who warned them that they expected better manners from heirs of prominent houses than a common muggle. After much apologies and putting their social masks on, the three heirs stepped inside the large fireplace and screamed "Diagon Alley."

The three boys were whisked away through the floo network and were deposited in a large fireplace in a tavern that was popular among every witch and wizard: Leaky Cauldron, the dingy pub/inn behind which Diagon Alley was hidden.

The three boys stepped out of the fireplace and dusted the ash of their clothes with a stoic expression carefully maintained. They caught the attention of quite a lot of people and a few hags as well who were having breakfast but the three heirs ignored it as they waited patiently for the elders to appear.

Another fireplace next to them roared green and the Lestrange family stepped out. Hadrian and the rest noticed how the pub immediately fell silent, some even throwing angry or fearful glances at the curly haired Bellatrix Lestrange and her broad shouldered, hard faced husband Rudolphus Lestrange. The twins weren't given much notice but seeing the glint in their eyes, Hadrian knew they were irritated.

Hadrian stepped forward and bowed to Rudolphus. "Lord Lestrange." Draco and Rigel bowed similarly but instead said "Uncle."

Rudolphus gave them a crisp nod and a small smile. "Boys. Where are the others?"

"Yet to arrive uncle. Aunt Bella, you look lovely. Purple is surely your colour." Rigel said smartly, kissing the offered knuckles of his aunt. Bella laughed and said "The Black family charm is evident nephew."

Rigel grinned at her and a friendly handshake to his cousins and said "Cousin Virgo, Cassie."

The fireplace roared yet again and the Malfoys stepped out, bringing a wave of whispers to erupt amongst the other patrons which the two families promptly ignored. Draco looked completely at ease, haughty smirk in place and Hadrian figured he was wearing his mask.

After the two families finished greeting each other, the party set out towards the back while Lucius flicked a knut at a silent Tom the barkeeper for using the portal, which he silently pocketed. As they walked into the back alley, the whispers became louder and louder and the most common word Hadrian picked up was 'death eaters scum.'

Rudolphous and Lucius didn't even bat an eye as they drew their wands to open the gateway but Hadrian could see the tenseness in Rudoplhous's shoulders and a tiny glimmer of rage in Bella's eyes. He made a note to himself to ask them about this later.

Lucius tapped the bricks in the order and the archway opened to reveal the famed magical ally in Britain. The road was completely filled with witches and wizards in robes, chaotically walking into shop after shop, laughing and generally having a great time.

Hadrian spotted the snow white Gringotts building at the end of the road which towered over the entire alley. On either side of the cobblestone path, shops were located. Each and every one of them were unique and sold a variety of goods ranging from dress robes to frog eyes.

Hadrian stepped inside the archway and watched the shops casually as Lucius waved his wand and the bricks reformed back to their wall structure. Hadrian could spot quite a few children his age looking awed and positively dragging their parents. The group began to walk forward confidently.

"Right." Lucius said walking briskly as he threw a disgusted look at Madam Malkin's robes for all occasions. "We will go to Gringotts first and get our money. Then off to Knockturn Alley. I don't think there is nothing we need to purchase in Diagon."

"Not even wands?" asked Cassie quietly, throwing a glance at Ollivander which was a few meters away.

Bella snorted and said "No my sweet. You will not be stunting your magic by using wands that are barely attuned to you. No, we will get you all custom made ones that are made specifically for you. Heirs of your standards shouldn't even be seen using that rubbish wands let alone use them."

They reached the marble gates of Gringotts and a pair of goblins in armor and holding axes bowed them inside. The group strolled briskly to an empty teller and Lucius said "Greetings goblin. I would require the services of three tellers to take us down to the Malfoy, Lestrange and Potter vaults."

The goblin sneered at them and said "Very well, _wizard_." He then snarled behind him and three goblins came to them. They sneered at them and said "This way."

"Rigel, come with us. Your grandfather has already paid me in advance so you can take the money from the Malfoy vaults itself. Bella and Hadrian, once you're done, wait for us here so we can all leave together."

They both nodded and followed the assigned goblins. Hadrian walked through a completely different door than the ones the others used and followed the surly goblin down a pathway. Bright chandeliers hung from the roof, throwing bright light onto the walls that was decorated with paintings showing the various wars the goblins had fought in.

The goblin then led him into another side room and whistled for a cart which took them down the steep tracks and Hadrian watched disinterestedly as the mines flashed by in a blur as they sped deeper into the ground.

Finally, they came to a stop near an elaborate door with the Potter family crest on it. They got out of the cart and walked towards the large door. The goblin threw him a glance and grunted "Key."

Hadrian silently handed him the key and the goblin checked the authenticity of the key, stroking the key with a hungry gleam in his eyes that disturbed Hadrian slightly. Finally, he strolled forward and inserted it into the keyhole and the key was sucked inside.

The goblin invited Hadrian forward. "Claim your ancestry. Beware, if you're found lying, you won't like what happens next" the goblin finished with a nasty smile.

"What about the key?" Hadrian asked and the goblin replied "Oh it returns to the head of the house if in case you stole it from him."

Hadrian simply gave him a cold look and stepped forward. He placed his hands on the Potter crest, which felt warm to touch as it recognized the family magic in him. "I, Hadrian James Potter" he said with distaste aimed at his middle name, "claim my birthright as primary heir of Potter clan and seek entry into the vault so Mote it be."

There was a blinding flash of light as his heir ring glowed to signify his identity and the vault opened with a loud clank. The inside of the vault was brightly lit with torches and Hadrian almost forgot to take a breath.

He now knew why his family was heralded as one of the richest in their world as he gazed at the enormous treasure piled inside the vault. Gold as far as he could see was piled sky high inside the deep caravan while a smaller pile was dedicated to silver sickles and bronze knuts as well.

Hadrian walked forward in a daze as he looked at the gigantic fortune his family had built up over the centuries. He walked to the end of the vault and found that there was another vault behind the first one which on one side was further over flowing with gold while another side was dedicated to decorative paintings, ceremonial weapons and expensive looking rugs. He walked towards the paintings and found a few tall chests piled near it which he opened to find it filled with high quality gemstones.

"All of this is mine?" Hadrian whispered to himself quietly but the goblin had sharp hearing. "As the next Lord, you control it yes but your parents and brother will have equal access to it as well." He added helpfully.

Hadrian nodded crisply and said "That's the talk of future. Let's talk present. Now, I would require a bottomless Gringotts bag. Grandfather said you would have one on your person?"

The goblin nodded and pulled one from his pockets. "Two galleons."

Hadrian picked up two gold coins next to him and flicked it at the goblin who caught it deftly. The goblin handed him the moneybag and he started piling as much money as he could.

When he was happy he had enough (several thousand galleons), he turned to the goblin and threw him a galleon. "For your services."

The goblin gave Hadrian an ugly full toothed smile and said "My pleasure heir Potter. If you need anything done in Gringotts, write to Griphook."

Hadrian nodded and they made their way up towards the surface in a whistling cart. A bumpy ride later, Hadrian found himself on the lobby, sitting on the lounge sofa alone as the others weren't back yet. Hadrian relaxed into the soft leather and observed the people inside the bank.

Most of the customers were either poor half bloods or the muggleborns and their parents using the pound to galleon exchange booths in the lobby since they did not have a vault in the bank. He noticed an arrival of a clearly muggle couple, a rich one judging by the fashionable suit and the business skirt the man and woman wore, was dragged by a bushy haired girl who looked anxious to start shopping.

Hadrian noticed the Malfoys and Lestrange coming his so he stopped his observation and made his way towards them. "Got everything?" Hadrian nodded and they made their way out.

While they were moving past the doors, the bushy haired girl's father turned suddenly which led to his elbow colliding with Rudolphous's shoulder. The other man grunted and said "Let's go honey. We have to finish soon. I have a client waiting."

They started moving towards the door while Rigel grabbed the man's arm and turned him around "Hey mister, you owe my uncle an apology."

"Whatever for boy? And you better let my arm go if you know what's good for you." The girl's father asked rudely, declaring the last part with warning in histone. He was tall with sandy brown hair, and Hadrian could make out the well-defined muscles hidden by his suit.

"I wouldn't threaten or call one of the richest heirs of our world 'boy' _muggle_. Watch where you're going." Rudolphous growled, matching him height wise and muscle wise. The two men stared at each other while the muggle's wife looks nervously from one man to another.

The bushy haired girl however frowned and said "Professor Dumbledore was right. You purebloods have no manners towards muggleborns whatsoever. Can't you see it was an accident and simply let it go?"

"Your father here could have simply apologized and we all could have gone our ways mud…muggleborn." Lucius drawled while keeping a close eye on the muggle who looked murderous at the racist slur.

The girl however, simply shook her head and said "You lot are barbarians, stuck in the middle ages. Let it go daddy. You can't expect civility from these backward bigots."

Bella looked murderous. "You better watch your tongue little girl. You don't know who you're messing with here."

"You better stop threatening my little girl lady or things will start getting ugly here." The muggle shot back as he rose to his full height while balling his fists at an utterly unimpressed Bella.

"Yeah? You and what army muggle?" Rudolphous jeered as he drew his wand, followed by Bella, Lucius and Narcissa. The bushy haired girl and her mother shrank back while the muggle didn't back down. "Dan, let it go. Come on!" the mother whispered urgently.

"We will be backing him up." A voice from the doors called and everyone turned to see a family of red heads make their way towards the group.

The man at the lead had thin red hair which was going bald and glasses. He wore shabby robes and held a chipped wand in his hands. Behind him, twin boys were training their wands at the group while a red head boy with rimmed glasses looked desperately at the two groups. The youngest boy simply glared at them.

"Arthur Weasley. The knight riding in to save muggles again. I hope you know that you won't get paid for this so I suggest you mind your business." Lucius stepped forward, smiling pleasantly at the man but everyone could see the hate in the slate grey eyes.

"Not everything in life is about money. Someone has to help the helpless muggles and Dan here is far from helpless. He is a friend of mine so I shall back him up." Arthur Weasley said with a forced smile, loathing evident in his eyes.

"A muggle barbarian for a friend. Just when I thought you couldn't be more of a disgrace to being a wizard." Lucius sneered as he gripped his wand.

"There's more to being a disgrace to being a wizard and a human Lucius and I'm sure you'd know about that, _death eater_." Arthur Weasley snarled back and everyone immediately tensed up.

Hadrian stepped forward. "I suggest you take your group and leave Mr. Weasley. Your sons won't be of any help against us since they're underage and even if they weren't, they'd still be no match against us."

"I can still pommel you into the ground boy." Dan, the muggle growled as he cracked his knuckles together. Hadrian gave an unimpressed look and said "Even if we stooped so far as to fight like a common muggle, you're one against six of us. Not to mention the hexing of your lifetime. Try it, _muggle_."

"Let's go dad, Mr Granger. Let's leave the dark wizards to their dark ways. We are better than them." The youngest boy said loudly, much to the amusement of the three boys.

"That's enough, all of you! No fighting on goblin territory. Out!" The goblin guard barked, finally having enough of the scene. Dan threw a lot of extreme loathing at the group and turned to the silent goblin manager he was speaking to. "Bloodfinger, I will return tomorrow to discuss about the vaults. Good day!"

"Muggles getting vaults in Gringotts. I never thought I'd see the day." Lucius remarked casually, hurling one last insult at the clearly angry man. Dan was about to retort but then took a deep breath and said "Arthur let's go. Emma, Hermione stay in front."

He threw one last hate filled glare at them before the entire group turned and began walking away. The twin boys looked back and made a slicing motion across their necks at three boys who simply smirked at them.

"Dan Granger." Lucius mused silently. Rudolphous grunted and said "We have wasted enough time as it is. Let us leave now."

They made their way out and walked silently down towards the entrance of Knockturn Alley. They children stood close to the silent adults as they made their way down the dark and dingy alley. Suddenly the alley widened and into a clean and neat shopping district which nobody expected to be present behind a dark and dingy alley.

"This is Knockturn Alley?" Virgo exclaimed, her mask all but forgotten as she gazed around in awe. Bella laughed and said "Did you honestly expect purebloods to shop in a dark and dingy alley for generations?"

Even Hadrian was blown away. He had always imagined Knockturn Alley to be a dark and dingy place which mothers warned about to their young children. He did not expect this colorful and chaotic plaza which was filled with wonderful sights and smells to be the placed mothers warned about hags and werewolves.

Hadrian could see the hags, going about their business shopping and muttering to each other. He could see a house elf popping away from outside a general store. Creatures and humans intermingled about, peacefully going about their business without bothering each other, which Hadrian could claim he had never seen it happening in Diagon Alley.

"All questions for later. Let us finish our shopping first." Lucius said hurriedly, as all of them began to open their mouths, no doubt a hundred questions in mind.

"Good suggestion dear." Narcissa smiled winningly at her husband. "Let's finish with robes first as they are the most tedious. Shall we start Bella?"

They made their way to a shop named Twillfit & Tattings which Hadrian discovered was a high-end clothes shop. They waked inside and a man in very stylish robes greeted them. He bowed to the Lords while kissing the offered knuckles of the ladies. He gave the children a nod and said "Welcome. I am Mr Twillfit and it shall be my honor to help you today. What are you looking for?"

"Five full sets of Hogwarts. Three male and two females. Use only your best materials. Price is of no concern." Cissa said commandingly to which Twillfit nodded and snapped his fingers. At once, five assistants came out and began to measure the heirs individually while taking notes. Bella and Cissa were giving specific instructions about the material to be used, the designs to be added along with the crests which was dutifully noted by Twillfit.

Rudolphous and Lucius watched with silent amusement as the three boys were looking beyond bored as they were pricked, pinned and measured more than ever in life. The two girls looked calm as they were used to it but three boys looked as if they wanted to pull their hair out any minute.

Finally it was over. Hadrian found himself ordering ten pair of shirts, made of a material called star silk that looked very comfortable and expensive. He would also have six cloaks with the Hogwarts crest for now, which would change after his sorting. He also had the Potter crest next to it, signaling his status as the primary heir to the house. His twin could not wear the crest on his chest since he was not the heir primary and Hadrian almost cackled with laughter thinking how much it would infuriate the ponce.

He also ordered pants, vests and new shoes. All of them had requested their clothes to be fireproof, water proof and anti-creasing, Twillfit apologized that their order would take time as the charms had to be weaved through the fabric and promised to owl their orders personally as soon as they were done which was expected to be ready in two days. Hadrian walked out of the store three thousand galleons poorer.

The children begged to take a small break and the adults reluctantly agreed to it and they made their way into a small café where the kids ha ice cream while the adults sipped coffee.

Next stop was Scrivenshafts which sold parchment and quills. Hadrian bought a strange black quill which caught his fancy, a raven's feather and plenty of inkwells of different colored inks and a few invisible ink as well along with a large amount of parchment for an entire year.

After buying their cauldrons and brass scales, they made their way to Stargazers where Lucius insisted they all buy a fully working model of the galaxy and solar system since it would help them study better and they wouldn't have to memorize the planets and their moons. They also bought high end gold telescopes and a few books on astrology and its applications.

In Sluggers and Jigs, they bought potion ingredients. The store sold almost all the ingredients they required for their first year and Hadrian bought a few ones that were not mentioned in the list so he could work and brew ahead.

In Mercer's Tomes, they picked up all the books they required for transfiguration, charms, defense, history, and potions. Hadrian also grabbed a few additional ones on runes and theory behind wandless magic to check it out.

"Hey Uncle Lucius, these books cost almost twice as the normal ones in Flourish and Blotts. Why is that?" Rigel asked, holding up a leather-bound _Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them_ written in golden handwriting.

"Ah yes. That's because these books are deluxe editions, sold only in Mercer's. They include additional notes and words from the author. It also looks very good." Lucius said with a smile as he piled all the books onto the counter for billing.

Finally, it was time for something they had been waiting their whole lives: Wands.

Even though all of them had used wands all their lives, the elders had assured them that using their own wands was quite something else. The prospect of being watched to a wand that was made exactly for them excited them all.

They walked towards the end of the street and walked towards a store without any name. In the display, a single wand was placed on a purple pillow.

They walked inside and a bell rang somewhere inside the gloom of the shop. Hadrian looked to see a massive counter that dominated the entire shop. The area behind the counter was dark and creepy. He saw a few chairs to his left and a few doors next to it and that was pretty much the entire shop.

"Good afternoon." A soft voice greeted them as he stepped out of the gloom behind the counter. He had eerie, silver luminescent eyes that seemed slightly hazy as he gazed upon the group.

"I am Gabin and I will help you bond with your wands today." The wandmaker said as he made his way towards them by opening a small door in the counter.

"Bond?" Draco mouthed, looking confused.

"Yes Mister Malfoy. Bond. Contrary to popular belief, a wand is not just a mere tool to do magic. It is a bond between you, your magic and wand. The better suited the wand is for you, the stronger your bond with the wand and the better magic you can do." Gabin said, as he folded his hands behind his back. "Now, ho wants to go first?"

Rigel stepped forward looking determined. Gabin smiled "Well done Mister Black. Now let me explain a few things about wand crafting. A wand usually consists of the casing, core and focus. Each of these element's choices balance each other out. Like, for example" he pointed at Bella. "Bellatrix Lestrange, a powerhouse with a wand with an unnatural talent for curses. Her wand? Walnut, truly lethal in the hands of a gifted soul. Core made of Chimera heartstring, devastating power source in the right hand. The focus, jade to filter and stabilize the excess power. One of my finest creations no doubt."

All of them looked at the wandmaker with awe as he admitted creating Bella's wand. Hadrian hadn't seen her in action but he had heard enough about her talent with the wand in the dueling circuit to know that his honorary aunt was considered as one of the most dangerous women alive.

"Now Mister Black, head inside this room. Don't worry, just allow your magic to spread and it will do the rest. Off you go." Gabin said, gently leading Rigel inside one of the doors Hadrian had noticed. Rigel gulped but made his way inside and Gabin closed the door.

Rigel stepped out a few minutes later, holding two blocks of wood. He handed them to the to the wandmaker who smiled at him and said "A typical Black. Yew and ebony. Sheer, raw powerful woods to match your magic. Now go inside and find your cores."

Rigel vanished inside another door and reappeared again with a few glass vials in his hands which he carefully handed to the wandmaker. Gabin gave him a curious look and said " Thunderbird tailfeather, acromantula venom and raven feather. A dark affinity no doubt but certainly not evil. I can sense that this will make a very powerful wand Mister Black. A Powerful wand for a powerful wizard."

Rigel looked pleased at his words and was asked to choose the final part of his wand, a focus stone for which he chose a diamond.

Draco went next and his wand would be made of hawthorn and ivy and core with a single dragon heartstring core. He was also matched with a topaz as focus.

Virgo and Cassie were matched with almost completely same wands with holly and birch as woods but the cores were different with unicorn tail hair for Virgo and phoenix feather for Cassie with an emerald focus for both. Gabin remarked that both the wands were suited for healing as well as fighting.

Finally it was Hadrian's turn. He walked inside the dark room and Gabin closed the door behind him plunging him into the darkness. Hadrian took a deep breath as he steadied his mind and unleashed a small tendril of magic outwards and observed his surrounding. He felt himself being drawn to three woods which he carefully picked up and walked outside.

He handed the three blocks to Gabin who lost his smile slightly. "Elder, from a particularly old tree, yew and rowan. Such conflicting woods you have chosen Mister Potter. You see, elder if chosen at all, it is mostly taken by people who have darkness in their hearts. Yew is almost always never chosen by the weaker ones and always bonds well with people who are ambitious and have a vision. Rowan on the other hand, bonds only with people of pure heart. I will have exceptional fun creating your wand. Now go and find your cores. I am positive it will be exceptional as well."

Hearing this, Hadrian felt a shiver down his spine. How could the old wandmaker tell so much about his personality just by judging three blocks of food. Hadrian was more shaken that he was completely right. He had literal darkness in him, a manifestation of the powers he controlled over shadows. He, more than anything wanted to outshine his brother and prove how wrong his parents were to abandon him. If that didn't count as ambition, Hadrian would eat that Yew block of wood. He didn't know much about the 'pure-heart' but he supposed it was somewhat true.

He took a deep breath and repeated the process of sending his magic out and he got five callings this time. He carefully picked up the vials made his way outside where everyone was waiting eagerly for him. He handed the materials to Gabin and watched as he became very excited.

"You may be one of the most unique person to be ever crafted by me. This.." he held up a vial of sickly black substance that seemed to swirl inside "..is Dementor's blood. Highly dark, dangerous and possibly one of the most powerful, if rarely used cores in wandlore. This.." pointing to a vial with a few strands of hair inside "..is Rougarou hair strand. Another dark creature. Capable of very strong magic."

By now, everyone inside the shop were looking at Hadrian with various degrees of awe which made him uncomfortable but Hadrian brought his shield up as he listened to the wandmaker with an expressionless face.

Gabin held up another vial with hair strands inside. "Thestral tail hair. Has an affinity to death." Gabin paused as he considered something. "Actually many components of your wand shares an affinity to death. Elder, yew, Thestral hair. Such a curious selection. Moving on," he held up a jar with white powder inside "powdered griffin claws. Always bonds with a noble spirit. Finally" he pointed to a jar with a bright red and orange feather. "phoenix tail feather. Affinity to light and purity."

"Last but not the least, I need you to select a focus for me Mister Potter and I shall get to work immediately. Go on." Hadrian went inside the last door to find a shelf with all kinds of gemstones. Unlike the previous two rooms, this one was brightly lit.

He gazed at the stones, waiting for a sign but he went through the first row without success. He gazed at the next row and suddenly felt a small tug at his magic looking at a red stone which sparkled in the light. He grabbed that stone and made his way outside and handed it to Gabin.

"Interesting choice once again. This is red beryl or red emerald as it is also called and is one of the rarest gemstones on this planet and has the potential to focus immense magical energy. This is the only specimen I have with me, but judging by the materials of your wand, I am delighted to use it Mister Potter."

Gabin looked at the others and said "I will begin crafting your wands immediately. The four of you can collect yours tomorrow by midday while I will require an additional two days to craft Mister Potter's. Also, I usually charge 100 galleons per wand and require the first half of the installment before crafting. Insurance, I'm sure you understand…"

Lucius and Bella nodded and paid the money and when Hadrian was about to pay, Gabin shook his head. "I will charge you your full amount when you collect the wand Mister Potter. Considering the volatile and conflicting materials, along with the pricelessness of the red beryl, it will cost you more. But I will assure you, the price won't cross a thousand galleons regardless of the price of the materials.

Hadrian would have paid a million galleons for his wand but he simply nodded and said "Very well Mister Gabin. I shall be here with my grandfather in three days. I cannot wait for my new wand."

"It will be a work of art. Now I must figure out the architecture of the cores. Good day everyone." Gabin said, hurriedly bowing them out of his shop with an excited smile on his face.

"That was fun." Rigel exclaimed before he rounded up on Hadrian and exclaimed "Hadrian, you've got to let me try your new wand once you get it. Please man!"

Bella rolled her eyes and said "I doubt it would even spark for you Rigel. Hadrian's wand seems to be highly tuned just for him and I don't want you to get injured by misusing such a strong wand."

"I'm now sure it'll be even harder to beat Hadrian now." Draco face palmed and everyone laughed. Rigel threw a smirk at Hadrian and said "No ways! My thunderbird wand will beat yours. The raw power of the Black family will help me beat you!" he finished with a heroic pose in the middle of the road.

Hadrian returned the smirk and said "I'm part Black too, you dunce. But it's on, lets get our wands first."

The group laughed and made their way towards the exit.

Author's Note: Greetings! Yes, I've finally broken the writer's block and bring you a brand new chapter. It's been quite some time since I posted and I'll try to rectify that. Hope you enjoyed the fight scene between the grangers and the rest. I hope it seemed believable at least. Coming to the Knockturn ally part, I have big plans to that alley so please don't ask me more about that in the reviews. Many many of you had asked about Lucius and Bella's death eaters connections and that shall be explained in the next chapter. I wanted to include that part here as well but the chapter would have gotten too long. I'm rambling now. Hope you liked the wands and their cores and I think I haven't gone very superficial on the cores. Hope you liked the twist about the red emerald. It is our hero's eye color yet not green. I didn't want to cliché. Please rate and review.

Word count: 6745.


	6. Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

Author's Notes: Hey, I'm going to start this chapter off with a A/N this time. A lot of you reviewed that the theme about muggleborns being stronger than the purebloods and the entire situation does not sound realistic. I'm sorry but I shall be sticking to this theme itself. I shall of course explain how they came to power in the upcoming chapters slowly and try to make it sound as believable as possible but in the end, I can only do so much to keep you interested. So yeah, that's that. Also, I got a few reviews that the quarrel scene between the Grangers and the group sounds too far fetched but I did try my best there and I shall try to improve all further scenes to be as realistic as possible. Next, some of them reviewed that the idea of Potters allying with known death eaters cannot be possible and that James and Lily wouldn't let Hadrian be in the company of Lucius Malfoy or Bellatrix Lestrange. For these people, I suggest you read the story again. Lily or James are not in the least bothered about Hadrian and could hardly care less about what he does. As for Charlus and Lucius being friends and allies, I have it all planned and it shall be revealed soon. What else, oh yeah! I hope you enjoy this chapter and please do review. Cheers mates.

Chapter 6

Hadrian and group made their way back towards the entrance to the Knockturn alley when they heard a commotion of a big crowd gathered around, chattering excitedly. A squat witch holding a cauldron, with a live chicken inside it which was squawking indignantly, rushed past them knocking into Hadrian knocking him down. The witch looked down at him, gave him a big toothy smile and yelled "Get us lad. Ge up quick otherwise you won't be able to see Edward Potter."

She started to offer her hand to pull him up but quickly shrunk back as the glares of the rest of the group fell on her. Hadrian pulled himself to his feet and waved off the stuttering apologies of the fat witch who hurried away as quickly as she could. Hadrian dusted himself off muttering "Stupid git isn't even here near me and I'm already being pushed down by his rabid fans. Stupid people and their savior."

Lucius cast a distasteful look at the excited mob and said "Let us be off before we get trampled by these uncivilized buffoons." Rudolphous looked around and grunted "Looks like they're all heading towards the entrance. We have no choice but to head towards them."

The group made their way forward, with the crowd keeping a clear distance from them as they saw the extremely annoyed look on Lucius's face and the dangerous glint in Bella's eyes. They made their way down the alley and found a huge crowd in front of the entrance, before whom stood…

"The ponce who lived along with James and Lily Potter." Hadrian sneered and even Bella was taken aback at the venom in his tone but did not reprimand him for his language.

They watched as the golden family waved at the excited crowd, as photographers and journalists pushed their way forward towards them. The crowd quietened down as James Potter raised his hands for silence before drawing his wand and cast something at Edward's throat.

"Greetings everyone. I am Edward James Potter and it is so good to meet all of you finally. I have been dreaming of this moment ever since I was able to remember and bear the expectations of being your savior and the love you have for me has shocked me into silence."

The crowd roared its approval and Hadrian had to hand it to his twin. He sure knew how to lay it down thick. Edward cleared his throat and his amplified voice echoed all around the alley and the crowd quietened down again.

"I would like to thank you all for this love and support you have so generously given me and I shall always strive to keep it. I would like to thank each and every one of you who sent me gifts and wishes on my birthdays and other holidays, you guys made my day each year and finally I would like to thank you for acknowledging me as your savior from the murdering Dark Lord."

Lucius and Rudolphous flinched instinctively and Bella looked murderous as the crowd went ballistic at the final statement. Hadrian vowed to enquire about that as soon as they got home. Rigel meanwhile couldn't help but snort at the statement. "As if the idiot dueled the Dark Lord and killed him to protect the people. IT probably was a fluke."

James Potter cancelled the charm and he pointed it to his own throat and cast the sonorous charm. "Thank you for those words Edward. Wow, I can't believe my little boy has grown up" flashing his trademark grin which made the ladies sigh and the men laugh. "Today's a very special day to my family and I request you to please allow us and our friends" he gestured behind him to a group of redheads which Hadrian realized were the Weasleys, along with a trio of brown haired people who had gone completely unnoticed by the crowd "the privacy to shop peacefully. Although, I wouldn't say no to a few autographs." He finished with a wink making everyone laugh and Rigel to sigh.

Lily Potter laughed and slapped her husband's arm playfully before putting her hands and kissed him on his cheek before murmuring something into his ear well aware of the camera clicking pictures away.

Hadrian now understood why Lily Potter was regarded as one of the most beautiful woman in their world, looking at her vibrant red hair, dazzling green eyes which were eerily similar to his own, and a curvy, fit body in designer robes, she looked gorgeous in the afternoon sun, kissing her supposedly 'only' son in public. Hadrian had no doubt it would be on the front page of Witch Weekly's next edition's cover and at least the second page of Daily Prophet tomorrow.

Hadrian observed his parents after years of being apart from them. The decade had been very kind on them, both looking very good holding their only "son's" shoulder as they smiled brilliantly at the cameras.

Hadrian decided he had inherited the best of James and Lily and compared himself to be far luckier than his twin. He had James's strong build and his dashing good looks while he had his mother's eyes and smooth hair which helped him tame his black Potter hair very well.

His twin had his mother's willowy figure and his father's hazel eyes and messy hair. Comparing them both, Hadrian could easily pass off as his father's twin, minus the eyes and smoother hair while his twin looked relatively like the both of them.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Hadrian suddenly felt sick. Here were his parents, so close to him, yet they remained ignorant of him. Years of resentment at being ignored and passed over for his more famous twin suddenly washed over him and Hadrian couldn't take it anymore.

He wanted to hurt them but not with curses. Oh no, he knew exactly where it would hurt the 'golden family' and that was being embarrassed in front of their beloved fans. The shame and embarrassment would live longer than the pain of any curse and it wouldn't allow them to play victim and increase their fame even more. With a wicked grin, Hadrian raised his hands slightly while concentrating on the part of him that controlled the element of shadow and called "Obey me"

Instantly, the shadows formed from the mass of people seemed to thicken and sway responding to his command "wE obEy mastEr."

Lucius noticed the sudden swirling of the shadows and turned sharply to his left and sighted Hadrian with a demonic grin on his face. Looking at the calm eyes and the demonic smile, Lucius gulped as it suddenly reminded him of another person, some fifty years senior to this child who possessed the power to bend shadows to his will. He too had this terrible smile as he unleashed this terrible power upon those who stood against him.

"Ha..Hadrian, please control yourself. You don't want to get caught airing your abilities just yet. Please." With a shaky breath, Lucius realized his voice was stammering involuntarily. Hadrian noticed his honorary uncle's fear and gave him a warm smile "Worry not uncle. It's just a harmless prank. I won't hurt them, physically, and if you're worried about me losing control, don't, because I am in absolute control here. Watch."

The rest of the group had noticed this exchange and watched with bated breath as Hadrian lowered his hand and the shadows sank back to its state of absolute motionlessness before Hadrian exerted control once again over the shadows. Specific shadows this time, belonging to the popular family.

The Potters and their group walked forward towards the alley, smiling and waving as the crowd parted to form a path for them, cheering and roaring unaware that the shadow of the boy who lived had gained awareness for a short while.

With a wicked gleam in its red eyes, the shadow became a blur as it completely vanished for a moment before reappearing and it and butted the unsuspecting boy in his legs. Edward never saw it coming.

The boy crashed into the ground and because the attack came with no warning whatsoever, he had no time to protect his face also, banged his chin hard on the stone paved ground which split and also bit his tongue hard due to the sudden pain and shock.

Edward Potter lay dazed on his stomach in Diagon Alley, the wind knocked from his lungs, chin and tongue bleeding profusely, fat tears welling from his eyes as the masses began panicking seeing their hero fall from an attack they never expected. James Potter immediately drew his wand and cast a translucent shield around his son and his wife who was lifting him up and stopped them from being run over by the mob. He carefully scanned the area for invisible enemies before slowly bending down and checked on his son.

Other than the fact that he was in tears and had a cut on his chin and tongue and seemed ruffled, he seemed fine so he got up and cast a patronus which was in the form of a stag before he yelled "We've been attacked. Mostly by rogue death eaters. Need help. Get it to Alastor Moody. Now!"

A few of the braver citizens drew their wands and stood wearily with James and the Weasley parents standing guard as Lily consoled her crying son and wiped the tears from his eyes. James stood alert at his family's side, waiting to defend against an attack that would never come. The Grangers and the little Weasleys meanwhile huddled behind the group as they waited for things to calm down.

Hadrian watched gleefully at the sobbing twin brother of his and felt a guilty pleasure seeing him in that state. He quickly crushed any guilt he felt and was annoyed when he felt frantic tapping on his shoulders. He looked at Lucius who was speaking "We need to get out of here. We cannot be caught in the area where death eaters are suspected to be."

Bella and Rudolphous nodded quickly and Bella said "But the ant-appration wards are still up. How can we get around them?"

Lucius cursed quietly and Hadrian figured the situation was indeed dire if it made the legendary cool Lucius Malfoy curse. He suddenly felt guilty for putting them all in this position. "I'm sorry guys. It's all my fault" Hadrian said, while scolding himself for his lack of control.

Bella gave him a quick smile and said "It's okay Hadrian. We will speak about it later. First we need to find our way to the exit."

They fought their way through the crowd, Lucius and Bella holding a transparent shield so strong it repelled the people that would have run into them. They almost made it to the archway entrance when a group of people rushed inside the alley.

The leader of the group was a man who would scare any sane person if they had seen him in a dark alley at night. He had a grotesque face with half of his nose missing and more scars than healthy tissues on his face. His mouth was set in a permanent scowl and he had thinning black hair. But the most chilling feature of his was his eyes. One was small, beady and black that had a fierceness but the other was vivid electric blue and was the size of a coin. It looked around before it concentrated on Hadrian and group, especially Malfoy.

The man snarled and limped his way forward. Hadrian noticed he had one wooden leg and it made a dull 'twack' sound on the pavement as he made his way forward. "Malfoy and the infamous Lestrange couple. Fancy seeing you bunch in a situation where death eaters are expected to be. Maybe there are some truth in those rumors?"

"That's Lord Malfoy and Lord Lestrange to you Moody. I would watch my tongue if I were you. Last time you threw accusations around, I am sure you did not like the repercussions of accusing me and my associates and you will like it even further this time." Lucius said smartly, unfazed by the now glowering man who Hadrian recognized as Alastor Moody, the legendary auror who was responsible for half the cells being filled in Azkaban.

"Oh, I remember the repercussions all right. It wouldn't stop me from hunting dark scum though. Judging by you and your 'associates' being present in the area where the boy who lived was attacked, I think I can make the charges stick this time." Moody gave a nasty grin. "Wait for questioning. I will go check upon the lad and if you try to run, I will bring hell onto your doorstep." Moody stepped forward and whispered "I hope you do run, death eater scum."

Lucius gripped his cane head tightly but didn't say anything as Moody gave another grin before turning around and walking towards the now mob around the boy who lived.

Hadrian watched with quiet interest as James and Moody spoke for a few minutes before Moody pointed at them and James's eyes narrowed. He bent down and whispered something to Lily who nodded before going back to fussing over her son who had now stopped sobbing.

The two of them walked towards them and James suddenly stopped in his tracks when he sighted Hadrian who had an expressionless face as he gazed back. James looked confused "Ha..Hadrian. What..what are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed when he saw Lucius and Rudolphous. "What are you doing here with _them_?"

Hadrian looked at him blankly. "Well, seeing we're in Diagon Alley and I'm attending Hogwarts soon, I was here shopping of course before your _presence_ whipped the mob into a frenzy and I was just trying to get out alive."

James looked startled at the emotionless tone. "Uh, okay… Did you see anyone who threw that hex at your brother?"

"No" Hadrian said blankly and everyone who knew him could see his impeccable mind shields in place but James of course did not know that.

"What are you doing out with Lucius Malfoy, Rudolphous and Bellatrix Lestrange of all people? Don't you know what sort of people they are?" James asked, while glaring at the mentioned people who stiffened.

For the first time, a little bit of emotion entered Hadrian's tone. Anger.

"Oh and now I'm supposed to take your opinion which sort of people I should associate with? I would have, if you and your wife hadn't been too busy being fame obsessed and completely abandoning me. These people are more family to me than you ever could be and I'm not even joking as I am a Black too."

James looked like he had been slapped twice.

"Hadrian.. what are you saying? We never abandoned…."

"Enough." Hadrian said quietly but it had a hint of warning in his voice which made James stop midway. Hadrian looked straight at his face and said "Why are we being held up Captain Potter? My uncles and aunt along with my cousins were in a bit of a hurry."

James looked confused on why Hadrian had cut him off and caught sight of the smug looks on Lucius's and Bella's faces. He put two and two together of what seemed like the only plausible conclusion in his eyes and his hazel eyes became slits. "You! You all poisoned my son against me. Probably used dark magic to cloud his mind and probably take his free will too. I will have your hides in Azkaban for this, mark my words Lestrange, Malfoy. Auror Moody, arrest them for malicious intent towards my son and heir secondary to the Potter family."

All of them had been looking at various degrees of incredulity with Rigel's the lowest and Rudolphous's the highest, at the mad ramblings of James Potter but quickly turned to rage at the end of his sentence when Moody grinned and was about to draw his wand when Lucius snarled "Touch us and this time I will not be lenient towards either of you. What madness is this! You're a pathetic man. You accuse of bewitching your son, the very same son who you had completely forgotten till now and you will throw us in Azkaban? Don't make me laugh. Being the boy who lived's father seems to have made you feel invincible." Lucius stepped forward until he was nose to nose to the red faced auror. "Let me tell you something Potter. You. Are. Not. Invincible."

Moody drew his wand and Bella Rudolphous drew theirs and pointed at him immediately. Rigel and the twins glared at the man and stood wearily behind Bella. Hadrian stepped forward and said quietly "You really are a pathetic human being. How can you even see yourself in the mirror? You accuse Uncle Lucius and Aunt Bella of bewitching me? Blaming them for your mistakes. How…"

"Stop calling them your uncle and aunt. They are not your family. They are all just death eater scum!" James roared and drew his wand, pointing it at the Malfoy Lord.

"Stop calling my family death eaters you hypocrite! Whatever they are, they would never ignore their child for fame and money like you and your wife there." Hadrian yelled back as his anger surged to new heights.

James visibly reeled back and said "Let me just…."

"No." Hadrian said quietly with threat in his tone. Hadrian looked James straight in the eyes and said "What do you mean heir secondary to the Potter Family? I _am_ the primary heir."

James looked confused. "But Edward is the Boy…."

Hadrian laughed "The rules of inheritance is older than your precious savior. I was born first and I will be the next Lord after you, and grandfather has already made me his heir."

"Then you must respectfully step aside Hadrian. Edward is the boy who lived. He is the one destined to lead our world into the future and to do that, he will need the Peverell and Potter votes in the Wizengamot. I'll set up a meeting with the goblins and we can…."

Hadrian started laughing, interrupting James in mid-speech who looked confused as to why he was being laughed at. Hadrian kept laughing and James started to feel irritated now. "Is there something funny in what I said Hadrian?"

Hadrian was doubling over laughing. He wheezed out "Yeah."

"Don't give me that attitude now young man." James said angrily, hazel eyes bright with rage at being laughed at. "Now you will accompany us to Gringotts and allow Edward to be the heir primary and you can be on your way."

"No."

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me. I could hardly care less about what destiny your savior has but he will not take the heirship from me."

"You don't want me as your enemy Hadrian. Son or not, I will not hesitate to bring mine and my allies might against you to get what I want." James threatened, his eyes flashing.

"What power?" Hadrian asked mockingly. "You are merely the acting Lord of Potter clan in Wizengamot alone. You are not Lord Potter. Even when you become the Lord, I am still firstborn and I have the law on my side. As for allies, do you see these gentlemen?" pointing at Lucius and Rudolphous "Aside from House Longbottom and the acting head of Black, you have no formidable allies who'd stand by your side while these men would relish destroying you."

Hadrian stepped forward and while considerably shorter than James looked him full in the eyes and said "Go tell your savior he will never wear the signet read nor control the family magic. Not while I'm alive."

James looked to get even angrier and raised his hands, no doubt to strike his insolent son down when Lucius spoke smoothly "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Striking a heir of a prominent house, even if it's his 'father' is punishable up to 3 months in Azkaban and 5000 galleons fine."

James visibly restrained himself and ground his teeth. "This isn't over."

"I think Hadrian just said it is. Now unless you and that pathetic auror Moody there can do your jobs and finish your 'questioning', we would like to be on our ways." Lucius said airily, an unconcerned look on his face that infuriated both authors.

After being questioned if they saw anyone shooting spells or acting shadily towards the boy who lived, James threw them one last glare and made his way back to the Weasleys and his wife who had inquisitive expressions on their face.

Before they could be stopped again, the group led by Bella made their way towards Leaky Cauldron and flooed back to Black Townhouse.

Hadrian had a stony expression on his face which broke as soon as he stepped outside the fireplace to see the entire room decorated. Noticing the other kids were all as shocked as him, he concluded they also had no clue.

"What is going on?" Rigel asked dazed as he took in the entire decorations. There was balloons of all colors tied everywhere with buntings and colorful paper was arranged for a joyful setting.

"Surprise. We just wanted to celebrate all of you getting into Hogwarts and for putting your best this past year." Bellatrix said with a smile on her face.

Arcturus and Charlus made their forward and they were smiling but the smile melted off their face when they saw Hadrian's expression.

"What happened?" Charlus asked Hadrian.

"I met my 'family'. It was a heartwarming reunion." Hadrian ground out sarcastically, his green eyes sparkling with rage.

Charlus looked at Lucius who proceeded to tell them what happened. By the time he was done, Dorea and the rest also had come inside the room and had heard the story.

"I cannot believe what level he has fallen into." Dorea gasped as she heard about her son's greed. "Was he always like this Charlus?"

"I'm afraid we spoilt him a little too much dear. He always loved being the center of attention and now with entire globe being aware of him has changed him and that upstart mudblood in the head." Charlus sighed and looked at Hadrian who was silent. "Son are you alright?"

"I can't believe the gall of that man. Calling you all Death Eaters." Hadrian said quietly but it was heard by all.

Arcturus and Charlus shared a look and Arcturus said "Kids, we have something to tell you all. I don't want you all to make a fuss until you fully hear us out. Do you understand? First let's have lunch. This is not something to be spoken over food."

Hadrian, Rigel and the twins all looked curious as they followed the adults into the dining hall. The table was laden with food for a late lunch and Hadrian could smell the sweet aroma of food and realized how hungry he was. Controlling shadows was a tiring skill.

They all took their seats and as the Lord of the Manor, Arcturus sat at the head with his wife Melania to his right and Rigel to the left. Charlus sat in the opposite side with Dorea to the right and Hadrian to the left.

The Malfoys and Lestranges took their seats in the middle with Narcissa and Bella being daughters of House Black with Draco and the twins with them.

Arcturus tapped his silver knife against the crystal goblet gently and stood. At once everyone paid the Lord of Black their full attention. He gazed at them for a moment with a small smile and said "It gives me great joy to see the next generation of us taking their steps towards their journey's in life and I cannot be prouder of you all. You all are shaping to be excellent lords and ladies, with magical power to back it up. Truly a pride to associate all of you as Blacks irrespective of your marriages."

Arcturus took a breath and continued "You are all privileged to be highborn. Hadrian, the Lord of Potter. Rigel, the Lord of Black. Draco, the Lord of Malfoy. Virgo and Cassiopeia, Ladies of Lestrange. Even if Rigel is going to be the Lord of Black, always remember the same blood flows in your veins and always remember that you will always have the support of House Black in any conflict or business. Here's to you."

Arcturus raised his goblet in toast and everyone mirrored his actions and everyone began to eat in earnest as smaller pockets of conversation broke out between them.

"So, Hadrian minus the unpleasant meeting with James, how did your shopping go?" Charlus asked as he began eating.

"It went great." Hadrian said enthusiastically, as he recounted all the stuff he had bought and added "I will need to go collect my wand after three days."

"Three days." Dorea remarked. "Usually it takes Gabin no more than two days to craft one. What are the woods and cores?"

As Hadrian listed the wand and cores, Charlus and Dorea's eyebrows climbed higher and higher until it vanished into their hairline.

"That is… exceptional. You will make waves one day Hadrian and I can honestly say I'm excited to see this wand. I have to tell you something about the wands later." Charlus said.

Hadrian nodded and everyone finished their lunch. Once everyone had eaten, Arcturus invited them all back to living room for some coffee.

Once everyone was seated, Arcturus surveyed everyone sitting before he called out formally "Heirs and Heiresses."

Hadrian and his friends knew that it was a serious talking coming up if Arcturus used their titles as heirs and heiresses. This was family business.

"You might have noticed Lucius, Bella and the Lestranges are somedays accused of being Death Eaters."

Hadrian nodded at this. He had been meaning to ask but in the aftermath of seeing James he had forgotten. While it was never proved, Hadrian had read many speculations of the Malfoys and Lestranges buying their way out of prison after the war with their extremely generous donations to various charities.

"Well, I did notice it but I thought it would be too rude to ask." Rigel said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair.

Lucius gave a strained smile and looked at Narcissa who gave him in an encouraging smile.

Lucius took a deep breath and said "It is true. We are all death eaters."

The moment was anti-climactic. Nobody fainted or even screamed that they're parents or family members were part of a terrorist organization. Arcturus nodded approvingly.

"That's good. Do not overreact or make assumptions before you hear the full details. This trait will serve you well in the future."

Hadrian simply nodded and waited for Lucius to continue. He found that he didn't care much about the fact that his honorary uncles and aunts were death eaters. They had shown genuine care and affection when his so-called light parents had abandoned him and he at least would hear them out before making a decision.

"Before you hear why we all decided to follow the Dark Lord, you need to hear that all the stories or reports are not completely true. Contrary to popular belief, we are not all savage murdering rapists. Sure, we have killed and decimated villages but it was not mindless violence." Lucius said calmly.

"So, what the papers and the media say is false?" Draco asked quietly. Out of all of them, even if they all of them practiced magic diligently, Draco was the only who was even remotely interested in the happenings of the world. An aspiring politician if there ever was.

"What did you all read about us in the papers?" Lucius asked tightly, a tick on his eyebrow.

"That death eaters are murdering, pillaging rapists who tortured purebloods and mudbloods with glee. I also read about the celebrations hosted every year for the fall of the dark lord." Draco said in a small voice.

"Young Malfoy, know that there are many types of warfare and the war of words is perhaps the most dangerous. Any fool can swing a sword or throw a curse and the opinion of the people won't change much but a well written article, you can influence thousands of minds at a go." Arcturus said gravely.

"So they are all false?" Draco asked quietly.

"The most horrible ones are. I for once know that the Dark Lord would flay anyone alive who would indulge in mindless torture and rape. He absolutely forbade it." Lucius said earnestly, something akin to pride in his voice.

"What about murdering infants?" Hadrian asked quietly.

"The Dark Lord is strictly against the torture or killing of children for any reasons." Bella said primly.

"May I remind you of my prodigious twin brother who is famous for surviving a _murder_ attempt by the said Dark Lord?" Hadrian asked blandly.

Bella and the rest looked uncomfortable. "Hadrian, that day… the Dark Lord was behaving very strange. Every move was usually discussed with the Inner Circle and after it was voted only the plans moved ahead. But that day, the Dark Lord looked very paranoid and spent a long time discussing something with that rat Peter Pettigrew. He informed us he had private business and after that, we hear your brother defeated our lord."

Hadrian turned to his grandfather and asked "Why would you support the person who would murder one if not both of your grandsons?"

Charlus looked Hadrian straight in the eyes and answered "I will not lie to you Hadrian. I did not know the Dark Lord would go after my grandsons and he owes us all answers. I never expected…"

"Do you still support him?" Hadrian cut him off.

Charlus took a deep breath and said "Your grandmother and I have discussed this extensively and we have agreed that we will withhold making decisions until we hear the Dark Lord's reasons. He is never the one to do anything without a goal and reason in mind. It was very wrong of him to attack our family and if we hear from Him that he did it for malicious reasons, we will be withdrawing our support and openly opposing them."

"Us too and I think I can say Abraxas would also agree to the same." Arcturus said gravely, looking at Lucius who gave him a single nod.

"You have never stirred me wrong grandfather and I will follow your decisions on this topic as an heir should, though I am quite disappointed that the Dark Lord lost to someone such a loser like Edward." Hadrian said the last part with a crooked smile.

Bella laughed "Nothing like that Hadrian. Exceptional events must have happened for the Dark Lord to even lose in the first place, let alone to a toddler."

"Was the Dark Lord truly that skilled?" Rigel asked.

All of them including the older Lords had a slightly glazed look in their eye as they were lost in memories. Finally, Arcturus answered "He is without a doubt one of the deadliest people I have ever seen with a wand. Even at our prime, me and Charlus would have had to struggle to beat the Dark Lord at his weakest."

Hadrian was stunned. His grandfather and Arcturus Black, Barons of the Wizarding World, widely considered as Titans of the previous generation, would have had trouble beating the Dark Lord while he was at his weakest? Impossible.

Catching the stumped look on the children's face, Arcturus smiled genially "Why else would great houses like Black, Potter and Malfoy support someone, that too an upstart half blood with vague ties to the Slytherin family? Capability children. The Dark Lord had a vision and he impressed all of us with his ideas. Of course, the fact that he had the intelligence, power and cunning to make it happen also helped. The only thing he lacked was political power and monetary resources which after hearing him out we were happy to provide."

Arcturus became grave. "Our world is in very bad shape children and it is still spiraling downwards. We are no doubt bringing about our own extinction. We" gesturing to Charlus and himself "are old. We cannot fight the battles and soon than later, you will need to step up. We need a leader to rally behind and the Dark Lord Voldemort is that leader. Bella and Narcissa here understood this and so did Regulus. Andromeda unfortunately was driven away from us by outside sources. She chose to run away rather than face us to marry her mudblood husband."

"So, all of the Black family members except my dad were death eaters?" Rigel asked quietly.

"Actually Rigel, your dad Sirius was also a death eater and to this day remains loyal to our cause." Arcturus said happily.

Final Notes: CLIFFFYYYYYYYYY! RATE AND REVIEW.


	7. Chapter 7

DISCLAIMER: THIS STORY IS BASED ON CHARACTERS CREATED AND OWNED BY JK ROWLINGAND BLOOMSBURY BOOKS. I MAKE NO PROFIT OUT OF THIS AND NO COPYRIGHT OR TRADEMARK INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED.

 _Previously on Other Side of the Coin:_

 _Arcturus became grave. "Our world is in very bad shape children and it is still spiraling downwards. We are no doubt bringing about our own extinction. We" gesturing to Charlus and himself "are old. We cannot fight the battles and soon than later, you will need to step up. We need a leader to rally behind and the Dark Lord Voldemort is that leader. Bella and Narcissa here understood this and so did Regulus. Andromeda unfortunately was driven away from us by outside sources. She chose to run away rather than face us to marry her mudblood husband."_

" _So, all of the Black family members except my dad were death eaters?" Rigel asked quietly._

" _Actually Rigel, your dad Sirius was also a death eater and to this day remains loyal to our cause." Arcturus said happily._

Chapter 7

Whatever air that was present in young Rigel's lungs was knocked out of him after hearing Bella's declaration. 'This is not happening.' Rigel thought frantically as the truth that the 'white' sheep of the Black family was 'black' all along began to set in.

"Easy lad. It is not what you think. You dad is not the traitor you are envisioning but rather he is the most cunning of us, the best of us Blacks." Arcturus said proudly and Rigel paused to listen to him before passing judgment in his mind. He did promise Arcturus he would listen to him.

"Tell me the full story please grandfather." Rigel begged.

"To do that, I must go back in time when your father was ten years old. The war with Grindelwald was long over but there was whispers of another one rising and I knew that the Blacks would get involved yet again and I had a feeling this war would be even worse for our family so I was forced to make some decisions for the family sake." Arcturus said gravely.

"Sirius was a bright lad, cunning to the bone and a shoe-in for Slytherin. With Andromeda and Bellatrix both in Slytherin and Regulus too young for my plan, I needed someone in the next generation to be Light and for family to survive in case things went bad. Either ways we would survive." Arcturus said with steel in his voice.

"What did you do?" Rigel asked breathlessly and judging by the eager expression on Bella's face, she had also been kept in the dark about this plan.

"I asked Sirius to convince the hat to place him in Gryffindor and ally himself with the Lightest family heirs there was and pretend to hate his family name and heritage."

"WHAT?" Bella shrieked.

"Yes, it was cruel thing to do but it had to be done. The Blacks were always seen as a dark family and while it never bothered us before because we had the numbers to support each other but when we are so low in number, I had to take some measures to ensure our family's survival."

Arcturus took a deep breath and continued "Of course Sirius was naturally against the idea and begged me to change my mind. He didn't want to be a foolhardy Gryffindor but when I offered him the choice that it could be either him or Regulus, he accepted it so that his brother didn't have to be stuck wearing red and gold."

Rigel smiled proudly, his dad always told him family stuck together and now he knew from where this sentiment had stemmed.

Arcturus smiled "You have no idea how proud I was of Sirius at that moment. He was the ideal Black. Powerful, charming and loyal to the family. Alas his first few years was not very happy. He got himself sorted into the house of lions and informed me that he had befriended the Potter heir and two other, one who is a werewolf of all things and another a muggleborn, which made everyone accept him but the fact that you Bellatrix" pointing at Bella "shunned him and hated him weighed heavily on his heart. It didn't help that his mother was not at all happy with him also started to hate him for getting sorted into Gryffindor and shaming the family by socializing with werewolves and mudbloods."

"What else was I supposed to do?" Bella protested. "You taught all of us, me, Cissy, Andy, Reggie and Sirius that we are above everyone else and must all look out for each other as the last of Blacks and I see him, gallivanting around with that blasted Potter, bullying Slytherins, wasting his time and potential, and glaring at me. Granted I did not know Lupin was a werewolf until afterwards we graduated."

"You can only imagine how good of an act he put up to fool even you who knew him so well Bellatrix." Arcturus said proudly. "He did confess that it hurt to see his favorite cousin and his own mother show such blatant dislike for him but he vowed to continue the duty I had bestowed him. When he couldn't take it anymore and ran away at 16, I had to intervene and called Orion and Walburga to explain why Sirius had done what he had and he was merely carrying on his duty to the family. To say they were proud would be an understatement. They immediately reconciled with him and Sirius couldn't have been happier."

"That's why Aunt Walburga accepted him back and even stopped hating him. I thought you had commanded her to stop showing dislike to Sirius since he was your heir." Bella exclaimed.

"No, Walburga is too strong willed to even listen to me let alone take orders regarding her dislikes but the fact that her son was sacrificing so much just for family's sake was enough to melt her heart. Sirius told his friends and Dumbledore that his mother didn't want to lose the Black heir and it was all just an act to bring him back but inside he was ecstatic."

"How and when did he become a death eater? We were the Dark Lord's inner circle and he never once mentioned Sirius to us and we know almost all the members." Lucius asked shrewdly with a calculating look in his eye.

"Do you remember the day the Dark Lord visited Black Townhouse when your betrothal was formalized Bellatrix? I doubt you would remember, being betrothed and pledging your alliance to the Dark Lord but I had invited the Dark Lord to Black Manor to discuss business." Arcturus asked with an amused glint in his eyes.

Bella blushed. It had been one of the happiest days of her life, being betrothed to the tall, handsome Lestrange she would never admit having a crush on and finding out that he too was interesting in joining the pureblood movement. It couldn't have been more perfect and she hadn't been her usual observant self.

"Back to the topic at hand." Arcturus said, amused. "When the Dark Lord arrived at the Manor, Sirius arrived by floo and after hearing what the Dark Lord had to say, he proceeded to join the death eaters. The Dark Lord on hearing his unique placement in the Light side camp decided to let Sirius remain as an unmarked Death Eater. Even though the Dark Mark can be seen by only by the other marked death eaters or shown voluntarily, the Dark Lord was wise enough to consider the possibility that the magic could one day be unraveled so he settled for a loyalty and secrecy oath from Sirius."

"So Sirius was a death eater before any of us." Lucius said faintly, imagining the smirk Sirius would have on his face when everyone realized the prank he had pulled for years.

"I would have never guessed. The ferocity he and Potter fought against us would convince anyone they were firmly against the Dark. They are no doubt one of the best hitters the Light has…. Wait a minute! Don't tell me James Potter is a Death Eater too?!" Rudolphous exclaimed, a horrified expression on his face.

Arcturus chuckled at his expression. "No he is not a death eater but you won't believe how close he came to being one.

"What!" Bella shrieked.

"You really must control yourself and not behave like a muggle my dear. Is this how a Black is supposed to behave?" Arcturus asked reproachfully. Bella blushed furiously, having being chastised by the eldest Black. The twins sniggered quietly at their mother's uncharacteristic behavior. Bella gently cuffed them on the head.

"But you have got to be joking right grandfather?" Bella asked, fighting the blush on her face and anxious to get back to the topic. "James 'look at me, I'm a prankster' Potter was almost a death eater. He's an imbecile. No offense Baron Potter" she added hurriedly.

"None taken my dear." Charlus laughed. "My son has many talents and I'm afraid those might have given him a large head and causing him to be an ass to everyone."

"He may have been a prick to Slytherins but even he didn't miss the problems our world has. Werewolves and goblins being treated as second class citizens, his friend being favored and the blatant corruption and favoritism towards muggleborns." Arcturus said gravely.

"What do you mean his other friend being favored? You mean Pettigrew?" Lucius asked.

Charlus answered. "I heard James rant it to Dorea after his OWLS. Apparently the muggleborns get tutored for OWLS and NEWTS during the Christmas and Easter breaks. While James was happy Peter was given extra support to improve, the rest of halfbloods and purebloods were exempt from this. If any halfbloods requested to join, they were always denied saying the program was full."

"Maybe the program was indeed full? Goodness knows there's enough mudbloods in Hogwarts." Lucius reasoned.

"Yes that may be, James's year did indeed have a large amount of muggleborns but when James asked the senior students and owled a few of his passed out friends, everyone said the same. No one other than muggleborns were taken into this program." Charlus said.

"When did this program begin? I was not even aware of such programs conducted in Hogwarts and I prided myself in knowing everything." Lucius asked, shocked.

"There is the twist. This program was open to all students and the professors would assign the students to this group if they felt he/she was not up to the standards to write the OWLS and NEWTS but after Dippet retired, Dumbledore took the reigns and along with the Board's support, scrapped this program saying the workload on the professors was too much and they deserved a break, especially during Christmas and Easter."

"Does that mean that program is running illegally?" Lucius asked angrily. "I will make sure to bring this up in the next Board meeting."

"No Lucius the program is officially scrapped. He was the transfiguration professor before he defeated Grindelwald and became headmaster and his own apprentice Minerva McGonagall took over the subject. He then instructed her to begin a study group headed by her for the OWL and NEWT students. Since it's conducted by her on personal interest…"

"..She has the right to allow entry of students and she can allow anyone she deems worthy." Lucius whistled. "Since Minerva has a notorious image as being unbiased in every way, no one would realize the selection was based on blood…."

"And those who realized were helpless to complain to the authorities as the Headmaster wouldn't care and the Board wouldn't and couldn't do anything as it was not officially sponsored by the school." Charlus finished.

"I'm sorry but how is that related to _James_ almost being a death eater?" Hadrian asked pointedly, entering the conversation for the first time. Everyone picked up the boy's refusal to refer James as his dad.

Charlus sighed. "James had a few friends like the current Lord MacMillan who were struggling as well and needed help but with the club closed to them, James and Sirius took it upon themselves to help their friends in need. No matter his faults, James's talent in transfiguration is almost prodigal and he decided to help everyone lagging in the subject free of cost. Nobody knew as much curses and counter curses as Sirius did and he helped the group with defense. Your mother Rigel, was exceptionally talented in charms and a few of his other friends volunteered to help and they created a group to help other lagging students. Naturally, this would come with some problems."

"What do you mean?" Hadrian asked confused. "Who would object to a group made to learn?"

"Oh you have no idea Hadrian. The number of people who would stop children from learning to dumb them down is scarily high." Arcturus said darkly. "The objection here was made by Dumbledore of course."

"That man" Lucius hissed. "He just doesn't know where his crooked nose is not needed."

"He was very cunning in saying students shouldn't practice dangerous magic without supervision and hence couldn't be continued further. Without a supervising professor, the club was deemed to be shut down and the students would be severely punished if they continued further." Arcturus said bitterly.

"Don't tell me they gave up? OWLS and NEWTS are very important for getting any sort of jobs!" Bella asked, furiously making a pact to make sure the twins, Rigel, Draco and Hadrian be trained further to make sure they wouldn't have a disadvantage against mudbloods.

"Oh no" Charlus said with a smile. "James was fully willing to continue the club regardless of the threats. 'Marauders fear no detentions' he said and was set to meet in some unused classroom but then Sirius had a brainwave."

"What did he do?" Bella asked eagerly. Sirius had been like a little brother to her while they were younger and while she had felt betrayed when he was sorted into Gryffindor, recent events had painted him in a new light and she planned to reconcile with him soon.

"The excuse Dumbledore used to prevent them from meeting was the lack of a professor to supervise them and Sirius found the simplest solution. He went and asked Slughorn to supervise them." Arcturus said proudly.

"Who's Slughorn? The name sounds funny" chortled Draco.

"Draco manners please." Narcissa remarked mildly. "Professor Horace Slughorn was the Potions Master when we went to school. He was a certified genius in Potions and was an acclaimed duelist. Sirius couldn't have picked a better professor."

"But why would a Hogwarts professor go out of his way to help a group of students against the Headmaster's wishes?" Hadrian asked shrewdly, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Well, other than being a genius, Slughorn had or still has one of the largest networks in Britain. There are very little people, be in politics, sports or mastery of magic that Horace doesn't know and he's responsible for putting many of them in their fields. Even Dumbledore wouldn't dare to against Horace and Horace wouldn't dare to go against me and through me against Charlus." Arcturus remarked.

"Sirius asked Horace and to assist him and Horace agreed immediately. He was wise to do so because if he hadn't, he'd have made enemies of a lot of houses, especially us and Dumbledore relented because he did not want to make enemy out of Sirius and James along with the rest of their group. Dumbledore took solace that it was only one batch that would defy him and that batch got the highest OWL and NEWT scores in decades." Arcturus remarked.

"Grandfather it still doesn't explain how James almost became a death eater." Hadrian complained.

"Patience Hadrian. As I was saying James was aware of all these going on and while he respected Dumbledore, he knew the man had a secret agenda with the muggleborns and was wary of that. The Dark Lord spoke at length to him about these problems in a secret meeting only he knew about, the way dark creatures were treated by the ministry, the blatant favoritism towards the muggleborns and the dilution of knowledge at Hogwarts and James agreed that change was needed." Charlus said gravely.

"Why didn't he join then? He could have done a huge favor for the wizarding world and also the Dark Lord would not have attacked Edward dearest" Hadrian sneered.

"The Dark Lord had given him time to contemplate. If James accepted, the Dark Lord had informed myself and Arcturus that he would reveal to James that Sirius was a death eater too to help ease his conscious. But after two days of silence, James publicly mocked the Dark Lord and when there was a raid, fought furiously against the death eaters. The Dark Lord apologized to me in advance that if he ever met James in the battlefield, he would be killed for the disrespect he showed." Charlus said sadly, a lone tear trailing down his cheek thinking about the foolish actions of his only son.

"Don't you find it odd that he was willing to work for the better world and agreed with the Dark Lord and yet changed his decision suddenly without any explanation?" Hadrian asked suspiciously.

Charlus had a questioning look on his face when suddenly his eyes glazed over and said "Dumbledore must have found out and talked him out of it. He must have used Lily Evan's name to help change his mind."

Hadrian was now alarmed. Charlus Potter never called his mother by her maiden name.

Hadrian suddenly felt a foreign presence in his mind, his occlumency allowing him to pinpoint it exactly around the memory section of his brain. He closed his eyes and entered his mindscape, ignoring the shouting around him.

His mindscape came into focus, a pitch-black caravan with gigantic and sharp stalactites hung down from the roof whose height was too dark to see. In the center there was a small pool filled with electric blue water that swayed hypnotically. All around the caravan the oppressive darkness shrouded every inch of the place, making the place feel shrouded and dangerous.

As the occlumency level increased, the traps and tricks set against the invading Legilimens became more and more subtle. The human mind was not a book to be opened and read at will and had natural instinctive barriers against intrusion to help protect it. While these barriers couldn't stop a barrage against a seasoned legilimen, a level 1 user could reinforce them to good resistance. Based on the occlumen's imagination, the mind and memories could be depicted as a fortress, a library, a stadium or even a muggle computer.

According to the shadows guarding his mind, Hadrian had learnt no matter what barrier or even the strength of the barrier but a legilimen would always have an instinct towards entering the mind. Hence to avoid this, as the mind magic proficiency increased, the mind made itself less and less visible to confuse the legilimen entering.

Hadrian's occlumency level, boosted immensely by the shadows made it sufficient for his mind to be able to completely hide itself from a legilimen and Hadrian saw no reason to flaunt his mind and memories in the form of a fortress or library which would make it visible to the intruder. While Hadrian had accepted that a muggle computer which he had read about would be extremely effective against wizards, he theorized that there could be another wizard like him who would know how to operate one and hence his memories would be at risk.

Taking the shadow's advice, he had completely hidden his mind and memories in the gloom above the pool. His mind was literally the roof of the caravan and whatever memory he wanted to see would flow down the stalactite as a focus and would be viewed in the pool. The best thing was that legilimen's instinct wouldn't work in his mind. The legilimen would stumble around without the instincts he/she was used to and stumble near the pool which was a trap by itself. It was completely protected. The squadron of shadows waiting to tear apart the legilimen's magic also improved security.

A huge, hulking humanoid of a shadow, donned in black armor and a wicked double headed axe strapped to his back stepped forward and bowed low. "mastEr, wE found this forEign magic trying to modify onE of your memoriEs. wE believe it would have made you lEss suspicious of a cErtain dEtail. wE have dEstroyEd it."

This being was simply known as Kage. He had introduced himself while Hadrian was in a meditative trance in his mind and told him he was from the dark dimension and would protect his mind with his life. Now, anyone would be cautious about a deity appearing in their mind of all places but somehow Hadrian had an instinctive feeling about Kage. A feeling that said he knew Kage from somewhere and the being would indeed die to protect his mind.

"Which memory? What detail?" Hadrian asked hurriedly.

"thE question you asked just now mastEr. thE magic originated whEn you stated your suspicion about your patriarch. it would have made you forget the ExtrEme changE in your patriarch's bEhaviour." Kage answered dutifully.

"What magic is this? I have never heard of anything like this. Is anyone near me casting this spell Kage?" Hadrian asked frantically.

Kage scowled ferociously and it was a scary sight. "no mastEr. this is not usual magic. in EssEnsE, I sEnsE chaos hErE!"

"Chaos? What's that?" Hadrian asked curiously, calming down knowing that it was not anyone in his immediate vicinity that was cursing his mind.

"i cannot say mastEr. you must discovEr it yourself but know this is anciEnt magic and only thE prEsEncE of us shadows hElpEd you dEtEct it. in our absEnsE, thE magic would got a hold of your mEmory and you would not bE suspicious of your patriarch's bEhaviour." Kage said, throwing a dark look behind him.

"But I have level 7 occlumency walls. Even with your absence, any modifications to my mind or memories, I'd be aware of it wouldn't I Kage?" Hadrian asked tentatively.

"no mastEr. your mind arts is no match for the might of wild magic. wE havE dEstroyEd thE magic since it was a wEaker form of chaos just to make pEoplE losE thEir suspicions and accEpt thE story without question." Kage answered with a growl.

"Okay I know you can't tell me more about this Kage but tell me just one thing. Is there a limit on how long this curse will run? Will it lose power soon and someone can retain their suspicions?" Hadrian asked, deeply worried. Who would try to hide the fact that his _dad_ changed his mind abruptly about joining the Dark Lord and more importantly, what magic did they possess to make even a master occlumen accept the story without question?! They didn't even use a wand for Merlin's sake!

Kage shook his head. "no mastEr. Each and EvEryonE, human or creature, asking about this will losE thEir suspicions unlEss thEy arE forcibly told thE truth by you or othErs who possEss a connEction to the dimEnsion. thE cursE will not work on a mind that is awarE of the cursE."

"What dimension?! Can you explain about that at least?!" Hadrian asked, pouncing on the last detail.

Kage looked guilty. "i havE uttErEd far too much alrEady. i cannot say more mastEr, plEase don't ask us."

Hadrian gazed at the gigantic being thoughtfully for a second before nodding. "Okay I will not force you to tell me but once I learn about this, this discussion is not over."

Kage bowed low. "whEn you arE rEady mastEr you will know. mastEr hEEd caution against thE people who darEs usE chaos. thEy will be no ordinary magic user."

With that warning resonating in his mind, he opened his eye to find all of them looked at him concerned. While had spent ten minutes in his mind, it had just been three seconds. Time varied in the physical world compared to the mindscape due to the brain being terrifyingly fast as compared to time in the physical world.

"It's nothing." Hadrian said warily.

"Are you sure son?" Charlus asked concerned. "You sort of zoned out for a second before you went stiff.

"Yeah, just had a headache thinking why James would change his mind." Hadrian answered carefully, carefully looking for signs of anyone understanding. Kage had warned him it was futile but he had to try.

The tell-tall sign of eyes glazing over was seen by all the adults including Arcturus but Hadrian was shocked as Bella's onyx eyes and Rigel's grey ones remained crystal clear.

"How…?" Hadrian stuttered. Did that mean Kage had lied to him?

"Dumbledore is responsible I'm sure. He must have made up a story of the Dark Lord going on a mudblood killing spree and changed James's mind." Charlus said, oblivious to the shock on Hadrian's face and his eyes glassy.

Bella narrowed her eyes at the answer and glanced at Hadrian who was still looking shocked.

"Hadrian what's wrong?" Bella asked in a no-nonsense tone. Hadrian looked at her thoughtfully for a second before he asked "Aunt Bella, can you cast a silence dome over us? I want to verify something."

"Hadrian what are trying to do?" Charlus asked, clearly worried. Hadrian gave him a reassuring smile and said "Trust me, please allow me to do this."

"I hope you know what you're doing son." Arcturus said and he nodded at Bella who cautiously drew her wand and cast a silence dome. At once all of the noise in the world disappeared and there was an eerie silence.

"Stop scaring us Hadrian. Tell me what is going on?" Bella demanded, her eyes wild. Hadrian made a placating gesture and asked "I just wanted to ask you whether you also thought it was strange James suddenly changed his mind for no reason." Hadrian kept a close eye on her for any changes.

Again, her eyes remained clear. "Yes I do believe his change of heart is suspicious but from what I know of him, he was very much in love with your mother and would do anything for her, even publicly insult the Dark Lord and refuse his generous offer" she finished furiously.

"Aunt Bella did you notice the strange glazed look all of them had when I asked this question?" Hadrian asked hurriedly and Bella looked startled for a second before she looked thoughtful. "You know, now that you mention it, I thought it was a trick of light everyone's eyes glazes when they answer that. Does mine also glaze?"

Hadrian shook his head. "No that's why I asked you to place a silence dome so I could verify it. The rest of them all believe the story without any question except you and Rigel. I noticed his eyes remained clear when I asked this."

"What is going on here?" Bella mused out aloud.

"I think I know. Can you remove the dome please?" Hadrian asked and Bella dispelled the dome. The sounds became audible again.

"Grandfather, what is chaos magic?" Hadrian asked loudly and Arcturus, Charlus and Bella stiffened harshly. Charlus had gone white as a sheet. "W..Wh… Where did you hear that term Hadrian?! I have warded all the books on the subject and I'm sure Arcturus has done the same. How do you know of it?!"

Hadrian was genuinely shook at his grandfather's behavior. He had never seen such fear on his grandfather's face and Arcturus and Bella's faces showed only shock and confusion.

Hadrian took a deep breath and explained about Kage and his warnings. He had to reassure Charlus multiple times that Kage was safe and even had to allow Arcturus to use legilimency on him. A white-faced Arcturus assured everyone that Kage was indeed real and took his job as guardian very very seriously.

"Let me get this straight." Rudolphous said slowly. "Your mental guardian, a being called Kage from the dark dimension warned you about the chaotic spell in effect which makes us forget certain suspicions about James Potter." He suddenly got up, looking startled. "Why would James change his mind suddenly? He agreed with the Dark Lord."

Charlus and Arcturus looked grave. "There is something underhanded going on here. Even with all my mental defenses I could not find it within myself to be suspicious of the circumstances."

"Poor James. I swear it to you I will not rest until I find the truth son, I swear it. I have failed you once, I will not fail you again." Charlus said, agitated about failing his duty as a father. Which father wouldn't be suspicious of his son's sudden change of heart on such a huge decision.

"Don't worry grandfather. Kage assured me unless you have an elemental guardian in your mind or a connection to the some dimension, no occlumency could stop this so this is not your fault at all." Hadrian said, patting his emotional grandfather on the back. He suddenly frowned and said "Say, aunt Bella do you have an elemental guardian too? How were you able to resist the spell?"

"I'm a Black." Bella sad simply.

"That makes no sense. So is grandfather Arcturus and yet he couldn't detect it." Hadrian said confusedly.

Bella was about to explain when Arcturus raised his hand commandingly. Bella immediately quietened down.

"Hadrian, you are too young to even know the word chaos magic let alone hear an explanation. Soon, as your Head of House Charlus will explain it all to you when you turn 13 and I will do the same to Rigel. Please do not ask us now." Arcturus said, utterly serious and the two boys could only nod in acceptance.

"What about me?" whined Draco. He too wanted to learn about this mystic magic that could mess around people's head without a wand.

"While you will learn the basics, you can never learn the full texts because you are not born from the _prima hora_." Arcturus said sadly.

Draco immediately protested. "You always said I was Black by blood. Why can't I learn with Rigel?"

"I am sorry child but this is shared only between Head and Heir. Even Hadrian's twin can never learn this." Arcturus said and Hadrian had a vicious grin on his face. Suck on that 'Boy who Lived'.

Draco opened his mouth to retort something but closed his mouth. His grandfather Abraxus had taught the sacred relationship that existed between the Head of House and his heir and he was too well brought up to whine about something that had happened for generations in his family. Looking at the genuine sadness and regret on Arcturus face, Draco knew the man wanted to teach him too but was held back by traditions.

"I understand." Draco said stiffly and gave a nod of acceptance to both Hadrian and Rigel who exhaled in relief knowing they wouldn't have any problems in their friendship.

There was a tense silence following this.

"So mine Draco's and twin's dad is a death eater and Hadrian's almost became one huh?" Rigel asked conversationally, breaking the heavy silence.

"We had decided to tell you this to make sure you understand the full weight of the choices you make and you understand the full history behind all the choices we have made." Arcturus said primly.

Charlus continued "We also hope that the five of you will always remain as allies, keeping our goals of unification in mind and never break confidence in each other."

"Defend your honor and your family's and always count on each other and us for support."

"Stay true to your blood and your goals"

With that, the gathering was officially over and everyone got up to leave. Arcturus summoned an elf to inform Dorea and Melania that everyone was leaving and Rigel had a sudden thought.

"Does mom know that dad is a death eater?" he asked suddenly.

Arcturus looked at him strangely and said "Of course, he would never hide something this big from her, though he did take an oath from her before telling, the smart man."

"So, can I ask them about it?" Rigel asked hopefully.

"Yes but make sure the walls have no ears when you talk to them. I waited everyone to learn occlumency before telling you this so it could be protected. If you suspect anyone is trying to read your mind, break contact and run to inform us. We will have their carcass sold to hags as main course in Knockturn ally." Arcturus said firmly, making the heirs gulp.

"To make sure nobody finds this secret out, I, Arcturus Sirius Black proclaim this a family secret, so mote it be." Arcturus declared.

Rigel felt a weird presence in his mind and discovered the Black family totem, the Raven in his mindscape. He looked questioningly at Arcturus "I see the raven in my mind. Is it natural?"

"Yes it is. It will protect all knowledge pertaining to Sirius being a death eater and will give you enough time to mount a defense. It is almost fool proof but still take heed." Cautioned Arcturus.

"Rudolphous, I ask of you to bind it under family secrets with the twins as well." Arcturus requested and twins felt the presence of the Cerberus in their minds guarding the secret.

Arcturus looked at Hadrian and smiled "As for you Hadrian, I cannot think anyone could get past the level 7 walls and now you have Kage as well."

Hadrian just grinned.

Author's notes: Hey quarantined people! I hope all of you have maintained social distance and taking precautions against the corona virus. I was home all day and without anything interesting to do, I sat and wrote this chapter at a stretch. I know I have included too much in this chapter but I am sick of writing pre Hogwarts chapters. I promise next chapter is the last chapter before Hogwarts and I haven't forgotten a certain ritual don't worry. If this chapter has any plot holes or conflicting situations and I will correct it, I was waay too excited to post this. Your reviews will certainly make my day interesting.

Word count; 5743.


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